Memories don't fade
by zoikoiroi
Summary: A lot can change for six people in ten years. They found jobs, someone got engaged, someone had a baby, another died. But someone is still in love... Or is it all of them? AU First lemon in chapter 5
1. reunion

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**1. REUNION**

Once upon a time in the island of Japan, away from the sea and surrounded by mountains, laid the little village of Konoha. Not many people chose to live there, because it was very far away from the big cities and the sea, so the population was around 300 people. They all knew and love each other and they co-worked to make their village survive. Most of them were farmers and some of them owned little shops and such things.

For most of the people outside the village it was a mystery why they wanted to live in Konoha, but some of them understood the beauty of the natural environment and loved the nice people, so they decided to leave the big cities and create a new home in that little paradise. But this was rare, not many people visited Konoha anyway.

It was normal that in so little village there were only a few children. A school existed, but it stayed empty most of the time. When a child was born, the teacher was trying to create a class from children around the same age and sometimes children three years older were in the same class. Despite the difficulties the system worked fine.

At 1998 such a class graduated from Konoha High School and made a promise, meet again there after college and never leave Konoha again. But at 15th June, the night of their prom, they left the village and never came back or meet with each other again.

It became a new story of the village, and grannies told it to the children at winter nights, in front of the fireplace.

Because that class was never forgotten. They were seven people and they could drive the whole village crazy. Stories of their adventures still made the villagers laugh after all these years. How they painted the town hall with graffiti the night before the president visited. The night that they let all the cows free and they got in the houses. How they managed to catch the bull. Their tree house at the forest. The swimming contest in the falls every spring. How they stole a track, drove drunk and broke the door of the bank with it. Their songs at midnight that woke the whole village up.

Everyone was pissed at them and everyone loved them. Their life became much more boring after they left.

No one knew the reason why they left. Even their parents were curious and asked, but they never took a good answer. Only one of them stayed at the village and the others never visited him or called. And as the years passed they stopped asking.

* * *

_Friends are like stars._

_You don't see them all the time,_

_but you know that they are always here for you…_

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was pissed. She hadn't been in this stupid street for years and it was still the same. Couldn't they build a normal road in this old village?

Her white pencil skirt and matching jacket were now brown from the dirt and she couldn't walk steadily with her heels in these little rocks. At least her house was close enough.

People didn't recognize her. Actually this was her purpose, when she wore the shades and her huge hat. If god loved her, she would have left before anyone saw her and started to ask questions.

She made it to her house and opened the front door to enter the garden. She stayed for a while and observed her mother's flowers. Hinata used to spend a lot of time in that garden when she was a kid and it brought up memories from the past, when she and her cousin played soccer and destroyed the plants. She sighed and moved her feet to the house. She hadn't been there in years and yet it was the exact same as she remembered it, big and white and beautiful. It was an oasis if you compared it to her apartment in the city.

The door was unlocked as always and she smiled as she entered the living room, leaving her luggage in the hall and then she followed the delicious smell of her mother's cooking to the kitchen.

The first thing she saw was the figure of her father, sitting in the kitchen table with his newspaper in front of him and drinking his after lunch coffee. Her mother was washing the dishes and Hinata was eleven again, coming from school, covered in dirt and sweat.

She almost waited for her father to yell at her for being late for lunch.

The only different thing was her chair that wasn't empty, but her little sister sat there talking about what happened at school.

"Hinata!"

Father left the newspaper, Hanabi stopped talking and mother left the dishes and rushed to hug her with wet hands. And they all smiled.

Hinata kissed all of them and sat down feeling awkward and unaware of what to say.

"You have said so many times that you would come and you didn't! I was almost sure that you would find an excuse again." Her father didn't want to show how much happy he was. "What's the reason for your sudden visit?"

"Hiashi, she will think that we don't want her here." Her mother was emotional and Hinata could see that her eyes were wet. "You will stay at for a while, right baby?"

"How is Tokyo? Did you bring me anything?" Hanabi had never seen her in the village, only at the city and she was very curious.

Yes, that felt like family. Being interrogated and asked questions that you don't want to answer. But she had to.

"I took a few days off from work and I wanted to rest somewhere peaceful. I will stay for week or so. Hanabi, your presents are in my suitcase. Any more questions?"

"Did anything happen at work?" her father was always seeing right through her since she was a little girl "Are you in trouble?"

"What? No!" Hinata prayed that he couldn't understand that she was lying.

"Don't tell me that you guys have a reunion!" her mother's words made her feel slightly worried despite her excitement.

"What do you mean, mum?" _Please don't tell me that they are here, too._

"Hizashi told me that they expect Neji these days and Sakura is here, too. Isn't that amazing?"

"Yeah." _I hate coincidences._

* * *

_Try as much as you want._

_You will never forget me_

_I am part of you…_

* * *

Hinata was a lawyer in Tokio and she made a lot of money, so she lived in a comfortable apartment in the city and dressed very classy and expansive. So she carried three huge suitcases with her that didn't fit in her little old room. That room was small and dusty and showed her how her personality was back then, nice, romantic, innocent, stupid.

It was what was left from her former life. In her desk she saw old pictures from her friends and her favorite places, the lake, the falls, the gardens, the tree house. She opened the drawer and threw them all inside. Then she noticed a letter on her desk and took it with shaky hands. There was no address or name so she concluded that it was left in her desk directly. She opened it with shaky hands and sat on the bed to read it.

_Hinata,_

_If you are back, please help me._

_Shikamaru._

Shikamaru? What was that? What happened to Shikamaru and he needed help? She decided to go ask her mother if she knew where he was and when he entered her house last time.

She found her mother in the garden, watering the flowers.

"Mum?"

"Yes, baby?"

"You said that Sakura is here, right?"

"Yes, I saw her!"

"What about the others?"

"Oh, I don't know much. I told you that Neji is coming back this week, but the others are not here."

"Do you know anything about their lifes?"

"Oh, Sasuke got married!"

"Really? I can't believe it!"

"Yes and I think that he has a child, too."

"Don't tell me!"

"And I guess that Naruto is coming these days, too, because his sister is getting married!"

"…"

"I don't know anything else."

"…Have you heard anything about Shikamaru?"

"Oh, baby, you don't know it!"

"What happened?"

"Shikamaru is dead."

"What? How?"

"After his parents died, he left the village. Some said that he disappeared and he was hiding. And some months ago he was found dead in the lake. The police said that he committed suicide."

"No way."

"We went to the funeral. It was very sad."

"Why didn't you tell me anything? I should be there."

"You didn't want to come back and see them again, Hinata. This was for your own good."

"I will take a walk."

Hinata left the house without her cover and she didn't care if someone recognized her anymore. She started to walk in the streets and without planning it, she reached Shikamaru's old house.

It was noon and everyone was in their houses, so she sneaked in the house. The door was unlocked and she remembered that Shikamaru's room was upstairs so she climbed the stairs. His room was dusty, but it was obvious that someone had been there and searched over the place. Hinata started to look, too, but nothing suspicious was there.

She was ready to leave when an idea came to her mind. She remembered that there was a hole in the closet, where Shikamaru used to put his porn magazines and other stuff that he didn't want his hysterical mother to find. She opened the closet and took some woods out of their place to reveal the dark hole.

There was nothing suspicious in there, but Hinata spotted a little box with two wedding rings in there. Was Shikamaru married?

She left the house with the box in her pocket. This was too much for her and she needed some fresh air. She ended up out of the village, in the forest and she took the very familiar road to the lake. It was a mystery how that place hadn't change through the years. She saw the lake and was ready to get closer, when she saw a very familiar person lying in the shade of the trees.

She hadn't seen her for years, but this significant pink hair couldn't belong to another person, except from her beloved old friend.

Sakura heard her walking and stood up. Her mouth opened wide as she recognized her and they looked at each other for a while in an awkward silence.

Hinata looked different; Sakura thought. Her hair was longer and she was taller, but it was her face that confused her. She looked tough and determined, not shy and embarrassed as she used to be. She had grown up.

Hinata couldn't believe how beautiful Sakura looked. She was a lot taller than her and terribly skinny, her naked legs looked amazing. Her clothes were expensive and well matched and her make up was at least professional. She looked like a model.

Hinata approached her and gave her hand. They shaked hands in silence and sat beside the lake. The place sure brought back happy but painful memories and they didn't know what to say to each other for a while. At last Sakura found a little courage and started a typical conversation that matched perfectly two strangers and not two girls that were practically sisters.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hinata. How have you been?"

"Oh, I'm doing well." _What are you talking about?_ "And you?"

"Fine." And they stopped talking after that meaningful conversation. Sakura was about to excuse herself and leave running, but Hinata thought about Shikamaru and his letter and decided to speak clearly.

"Sakura, have you heard about Shikamaru?"

Sakura's eyes moved to look at the lake and her mouth turned into a strict line. "Yes, mum told me." It was too hard for her that she didn't get to meet him again one last time before his death.

"I learned it today and I found a letter of him in my desk that looked weird." Hinata opened her bag and took the letter out and passed it to Sakura.

Sakura opened it and red it some times before looking back to Hinata. Her face was worried and it was obvious that she was thinking about the facts and how they have changed.

"Hinata, do you know what this is? Sasuke's father told me that in the beginning he thought that it was a crime, because there were evidence that there was another man with him, but they decided that it was suicide due to the lack of clues!"

"Really?" Sasuke's father was the police officer and a really clever man. If he had doubts, something was not right. Hinata started to feel frightened as well.

"And now you find that letter" Sakura continued "that proves that Shikamaru was in trouble!"

Hinata suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and I went to his house before I came here! Someone had searched the place recently, but they didn't found the hole in his closet. There I found this!" She took the box with the rings out and gave it to Sakura.

Sakura opened it and took the rings out. "Shikamaru was married?" She looked at them and then to the box. "Hinata, these are too expensive! How the hell could Shikamaru afford them? He had no job!"

"Sakura, wait! Do they have names on them?" Sakura looked carefully.

"Yes! This one sais…Shikamaru, and that one sais…Te-ma-ri…"

Hinata stood up and started to walk up and down. "Temari? From what I know that name doesn't exist in our village. Who is she and why doesn't anyone know that he was married?"

"Hinata, what are we going to do?"

"Wait. Neji will come this week and we will tell him everything. He will figure it out."

"And…"

"What?"

"Naruto is coming tomorrow." Sakura looked carefully at Hinata's face as she said that, but her expression didn't change at all. Looked like Hinata had became a lot tougher after all. "Hinata…"

"Yes?"

"That doesn't mean that we are back together."

"No. I hadn't forget."

And with these cold words they turned their backs to each other and left.

* * *

_You broke my heart._

_How can I can I let you heal it?_

_You are going to hurt it again._

* * *

The road was as bad as he remembered it. How could people drive on these rocks everyday? Thankfully the baby was still asleep and he didn't have to hear to her screams. It was his kid, he loved it, but he couldn't bear her crying anymore. It wasn't like he didn't expected it. Babies are supposed to be raised by their mother and his wife –ex-wife he had to remind to himself- was not the mother type. He was tired of the immature and stupid women he always fell for.

At least he had his mother. She would help him raise his daughter and relieve some of his stress. But he had to exchange the help with his life. His mother wouldn't leave the village and he couldn't abandon the child alone to his parents, so he had to quit his well paid job and leave the city to return to this forgotten from God place.

And he couldn't feel any worst about this. This was the nightmare of his college years. At least none of the gang would be there; he knew from his mother that they never visited.

He looked to his daughter from the mirror and felt happy for the little creature. Even if he didn't want to admit it, it was a blessing to grow up in this place. The city could be scary and dangerous for little children, but Konoha was safe and happy and beautiful. And you have people who really love you here.

Even he, Uchiha Sasuke, the coldest and rudest person alive, had real friends here. He would never say it loud, but he missed them despite the awful way they split up. And the fact that he didn't want to see them again in his whole life. It was over.

It was shock to hear about Shikamaru. His father told him to come to the funeral, but Karin was pregnant and he couldn't. Deep inside him he felt guilty that he hadn't seen him since High school. He was the only one that didn't do anything wrong and yet they all left him alone here. Poor guy…

He saw the falls and he knew that he would be home within five minutes, but he didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing.

* * *

_I won't say I love you_

_I won't say I missed you_

_You have to figure it out by yourself…_

* * *

"I will be there tomorrow morning!"

"_You mean you will drive at night? This is dangerous and I can't allow it. You may crash to a wall or a tree or another car…"_

"Then let me come next week!"

"_Naruto, you can't miss the rehearsal. You are supposed to deliver your sister to the church and help with the arrangements and…"_

"Then I'll be there tomorrow."

"_You won't believe who I saw here today!"_

"The ghost of your grandfather that comes frequently to warn you."

"_No, I hadn't see him recently. I saw Hinata!"_

"Who?"

"_Hinata! She was walking to her house. Isn't that amazing?__"_

"Mum, I have to go, bye!

"_Na… beep."_

_Hinata?_

That was unexpectable. Hinata hadn't been to Konoha since High school and now she was there? Naruto fought the urge to stop the car and return to the city. He couldn't miss his sister's wedding.

But he definitely didn't want to see Hinata again. She would still be mad and offended. What if she told the whole village that he…? That would be a disaster! Hinata used to be so in love with him and he did something so awful… The only thing that could be worst was to see Sasuke as well.

At least he would stay only for a week and then he would be in the city again, away from them and safe. It was a piece of cake, right?

Dear God, please, let me spend a quiet week with my family and without them. What can I do to leave my past behind and forget?

* * *

_Every time I look at the stars I remember_

_your eyes_

_that I will never see again._

* * *

Neji got out of his new BMW that he bought last month and looked at his old house. His father was a famous architect and had done a really good job building this little palace for his beloved wife. Neji had seen houses of the richest people in Japan and none of them was half as beautiful as this.

The truth was that it matched perfectly the natural environment of the village and the beauty of the mountains. Not many things had changed in Konoha, this place was untouched by the time.

He moved to the house and knocked the door. His mother opened it and suddenly her glasses fell from her hands.

"Oh, my God, Neji!" his mother rushed and hugged him making it hard for him to breath "Baby, I waited so long for this moment! Come on in… Hizashi!"

"Come on, mother…" he left his luggage in the hall and sat in his favorite armchair that was still the most comfortable "You saw me at Christmas and I was fine."

His father appeared in the door and looked at his only son with pride. He was strong and smart and he worked hard to succeed.

"We saw you at Tokyo, not in home!" his mother screamed out of excitement "you hadn't been home since High school."

"That's right and I came here for a serious reason. Please sit down." His mother and father sat down at the sofa and looked at him with worried eyes. He had probably scared them. "I will get married."

"What?" His mother gasped and his father's eyes opened wide. They didn't even know if he had a boyfriend and now he was announcing that he was getting married? "To whom?"

"I'm dating someone for the past few months and I want to marry her." Now they looked even more worried. It was his calm and apathetic face that made them worry. It was as if he was announcing that signed a deal or something.

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Ino and her father is one of the richest and most powerful men in Japan. He wants to make me president. And she looks like a doll. You will love her." He was desperately trying to persuade them that this was a good future for him, but they had a different opinion. "She will come here next week, so she can meet you."

"But I thought…" his mother looked ready to cry "…Never mind."

"What never mind?"

"I thought that you were going to end up with …her." His mother's eyes lightened up and his father nodded in approval. Neji didn't need any explanation; he knew exactly who his mother was referring to.

"Come on, mum! I'm not going to end up with my high school girlfriend." He didn't want to remember that. "And you hated her. You used to say that she was crazy!"

"Actually, I loved her." _And you loved her, too. You were not going to marry her because of her money._ "I'm going to ready your room for the girl."

And she left without looking back. Neji watched carefully his father who looked skeptical. At last he looked at him and smiled.

"I hope that you know what you are doing, Neji."

"I know."

"Oh, I forgot. Hinata is here and she asked to see you. She said it was something serious. Did you two meet in Tokyo?"

"Sometimes."

Neji stood up and left the house. The truth was that he hadn't seen his beloved cousin in years. It wasn't her fault, she just brought back painful memories. Her house was right next to his and he didn't even have to enter. Hinata was at the garden, sitting at the shade and reading a book.

"Hey!"

She raised her eyes and looked at his, that were very similar and her mouth opened at first. It was a big surprise. He sat next to her and tried not to look much at her.

"You wanted to see me?"

Hinata found it hard to talk. It had been so much time and she wasn't comfortable with the situation. Neji had always been very strict to her and she was still upset from her meeting with Sakura the day before.

"I came here yesterday and I found this on my desk." She gave him Shikamaru's letter. "Do you know what happened to Shikamaru?"

Of course he knew. His father informed him quickly, but he hadn't really thought about it. He was trying not to think that if they hadn't leave Konoha, Shikamaru would have never committed suicide.

Neji took the letter and red it. Suddenly he stood up and started to walk with the letter still in his hand.

"Hinata, do you know what that means? He sneaked in your room to leave this, he was probably in danger!" _And we couldn't help. We didn't even know._

"Neji, Sasuke's father suspected that this was a murder at first, but he couldn't prove it. And someone searched his house after his death."

"What? How do you know?'

"I went there and I found two wedding rings. He was married."

Neji sat down next to her again and took her hands in his to comfort her. "To whom?"

"Someone named Temari."

"Temari? I don't know anyone with that name. But Shikamaru was clever. If he left you this, there would be more clues hidden. We have to search. Let's call everyone back!"

Hinata looked at him hesitantly and tried to stay calm as she talked. "Sakura is here. And Naruto is on the way."

Neji licked his lips and continued. "We have to call everyone. I will find Sasuke and you find …her. We all have to look at our houses."

"Ok."

* * *

_I don't know which is worst,_

_breaking up or_

_coming back together…_

* * *

Sakura decided to take a walk around the village and think about what have happened. The letter that Hinata found was their first clue and there would probably be more of them hidden. Their houses were the first places that they had to search. Her place was clear, but the others hadn't looked yet.

Could she do it? If Hinata could sneak in a dead man's house, then she could definitely get in her old friends' rooms with their parents permission. But not Sasuke's. And not Naruto's. And not Neji's. And there was only one place left. She decided that it was now or never and she started running.

As she approached the place, loud music could be heard from a mile away and the whole neighborhood was shaking. Sakura gasped and a smile appeared in her face. She was there, too! Then… Everyone was there, everyone had returned except Sasuke! Neji would have said that fate brought them back together and Sakura was more than eager to believe him now. But…

They were no friends anymore. If Neji knew that she was there, he would leave and she couldn't think anything more awkward that Hinata meeting Naruto and herself all todether. She shook her head. This was about Shikamaru.

She knocked the house door and waited. A woman opened the door and looked out. As she saw Sakura, her face brightened up and she started screaming.

"Oh, my God! Sakura, dear child, this is you! I can't believe it! It has been years. Thank God you came to save me from my insane daughter!"

"It's nice to see you again." Diplomatic smile and sweet hug. "Is Tenten her?"

"Yes, dear! Follow the noise."

Tenten's mother was not from Konoha. Her father met her in one of his journeys and took her back with him. They were both crazy and adventurous, but their daughter was too much, even for them. From what Sakura knew, after college she just travelled around the world.

The music was horrible and it seemed to Sakura like screams from a hospital. She knocked Tenten's door, but there was no answer, so she just rushed in. Tenten opened her eyes and saw her with surprise and curiosity.

Sakura couldn't believe that a person could be so unchanged after twelve years. Tenten was still a child. Her hair were in two ridiculous buns on her head that weirdly matched her, her face was make-up free and her clothes were old. She wore a loose grey T-shirt and a jean shorts that used to be pants, but she had cut them. Her shoes were sneakers and she had a lot of earrings in her ears.

"Sakura?" Tenten found her voice again and started to feek awkward. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura was amazed. Tenten and she used to always fight because they were so different from each other, but they loved each other and were a good team. But now she realized that if she met a person like Tenten now, she would make fun of her clothes and attitude. Haruno Sakura used to be a famous model after all.

"Why are you here?"

Tenten laughed and played with her hair out of nervousness "My great-grandfather died yesterday and I am here for the funeral."

Sakura sat at the edge of Tenten's bed and smiled apologetically "I'm sorry."

"Don't be" Tenten was as cynical as ever "He was like a hundred and ten years old. Why are you here?"

Sakura didn't want this to be heard in the village, but she couldn't lie to Tenten. "I ran out of money and I live here for now." Sakura took a big breath and continued. "I used to be a model, but now I'm too old and made… several mistakes with my money."

"And it's not like you know to do anything else." Tenten was as hard as ever with her and the truth was that Sakura had missed it. And she had to answer.

"You are not one to judge!" Sakura threw an empty can of beer to her. "How do you earn your money?"

"I don't. I am making clothes of a rock band and I get to tour with them." She made it sound like it was completely normal. "I travel around the world with them."

"Sounds like you."

"And why did you come to find me?"

"I'm organizing a reunion."

* * *

**That was my first chapter. It is not very good, but the others are going to be better. You will take a lot of action. **

**They will try to solve the mystery of Shikamaru's death and you will find out why the****y fought and left Konoha.**

**I'm sorry I killed Shikamaru, but I had to kill someone…**

**If you liked it, you can push the button right here! And please tell me some ideas for the plot.**

**zoikoiroi **


	2. AN

**A/N: Sorry!**

**I had to correct the first chapter for a date and I re-uploaded it. Sorry to the people that thought that this was a new chapter!**

**The next chapter is almost ready…**

**Wait for it!**

**zoikoiroi**


	3. clash of the titans

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**2. ****CLASH OF THE TITANS**

In Konoha people usually gathered at houses or the town hall and celebrated, so there were no café or bar, but only a little cozy restaurant that was open all day. This is the place that the six old friends decided to meet. They used to go there often when they were teens, but right now this couldn't be more awkward. They all came there alone except from Neji and Hinata that came together and sat in their usual table at the corner. The first half hour they were just looking at each other and by looking we mean looking at a person without even seeing them, just to avoid another's look.

Sasuke who had no idea why he was there was sitting next to Tenten and avoided looking at Naruto or Sakura. Neji was the one who arranged this meeting, but he was just sitting with his cousin, trying not to look at Tenten not even once and to seem calm and happy. Naruto was informed that same day from Sakura that it was about Shikamaru, so he came and now he looked straightly at Tenten who was the only one that he hadn't fought with, his face sweating like crazy. Sakura was sitting between Naruto and Hinata and that meant that she couldn't talk to any of them, so she preferred to think how handsome Sasuke was. Tenten didn't seem to bother; she had her walkman on her ears and she was chewing a gum, not caring at all if she wasn't alone.

At last Sasuke exploded. "Can anyone please explain to me the purpose of this meeting?" he had a baby at home and he didn't have a good time looking at them like they were aliens. "I don't have all day."

Neji opened his mouth but he didn't get to talk as a loud scream was heard.

"Oh, my God!" the fat lady that owned the restaurant had finally came to bring the dishes and she apparently remembered them very well. "I can't believe that I see you all together again! I knew that you were such good friends… Remember the days that you used to come here after school and threw all the food around? This place hadn't seen such a food war since then."

"Really?" Tenten grabbed a little bowl of red sauce and threw it right to Neji's head that didn't manage to avoid it. Poor Neji was now covered in red sauce and it ran in his long hair and his shirt. He blinked his eyes for a moment and then he threw a whole dish of hot soup to her, but half of it landed on Sasuke that screamed of the hotness. Tenten and Sasuke started to hit him with the chicken wings, but they went to everyone and suddenly everyone was throwing the food at each other.

The restaurant's owner watched amused for a while, but a stake hit her in the stomach and she ran for her life. She left the restaurant and went to find the other bored ladies of the village to tell them the news. And maybe they could help her cleaning after.

Back at the restaurant everyone was panting and trying to clean themselves. Neji especially looked like shit but the others were covered in food, too.

"I can't believe I wanted a meeting" Neji was furious and the amused face of Tenten didn't help. "It is obvious that some of us can't be serious if when it comes to death."

"If you were dead nothing of this would have happened." Tenten didn't lose the opportunity to answer and irritate him even more.

"This is Versace!" Sakura was ready to cry as she was trying to clean her beautiful top that used to be her favorite.

"Don't tell me! That's a disaster!" Sasuke's ironic voice made Sakura wish that she had more food to throw to him. "And I don't even know why we gathered here."

"It's about Shikamaru." Five people froze in their positions as Hinata spoke. It was a painful issue for all of them.

Sasuke still didn't understand. "And? What could be left for us to talk about?"

Neji stopped cleaning his hair and looked at all of them. "We believe that it wasn't a suicide. Someone killed him."

"We?"

"I and Hinata… and Sakura."

Sasuke smirked. "If that brilliant mind thinks that it's a murder what can I say?"

"Do you want to eat some more Sasuke?" Sakura didn't believe how much he hated her. "Didn't your father tell you that Shikamaru wasn't alone at the lake?"

"Yes, he did, but that doesn't mean anything."

"We have clues." Neji sat down again and pointed to their seats. They all sat hesitantly and looked at him. "Hinata found a letter and these rings."

They passed the letter and the rings to each other and all of them studied them with attention. None of them knew that Shikamaru was married, which was very suspicious and they all agreed that the rings were too expensive and that they had to think about it.

Naruto gave the letter back to Hinata and stood up. "I suggest we all go search in our houses for more letters and then meet again at midnight at the police station, to search for the case's file."

"I will take the keys for my father." From what he knew, his father always left the keys in his jacket. "It will be easy."

"Ok."

They all turned to leave, but Tenten wasn't finished yet. "Neji?"

"What do you want?"

"Pay for the food. You have most of it on you anyway." And she left laughing with Naruto, who was trying to suppress his laughter as well.

* * *

_No matter how many years will pass,_

_I will remain a child_

_if you stick here with me…_

* * *

Neji felt completely ridiculous as he returned home. People looked at him and laughed, others came and talked to him for a while, making him answer unpleasant questions for the good old times. It was hard to be around all these people that knew every little part of his life.

It was all that woman's fault. She was thirty now, but she still acted like a three years old spoiled child. And yet she was still so beautiful. Neji shaked his head, trying to get her image out of his mind, but it was impossible. He was no part of her life anymore. And then other images came to his mind, images that he was trying to forget for many years and he couldn't.

He reached his house in no time and opened the door trying not to get everything dirty with the food that he had on him. He hoped that his parents were not at home, but a loud noise informed him that he was going to be caught looking like this.

"Neeeji-kun!"

And that was a voice that he didn't expect or want to hear at this particular moment. The living room's door opened and his very own fiancé came out to hug him, but stopped as she saw his condition. His mother and father were sitting on the couch behind her and looked very amused of their future daughter's in law reaction.

"Ino, what are you doing here so early? I thought that you were going to be here next week." Neji tried to hug her but she took several steps behind.

Her handsome fiancé that wore only brand clothes and was always cleaner than a girl, was coming home covered in red sauce with little pieces of meat and fish stuck on it. His hair was red and she could see rice in them and in his right cheek there was a big piece of sushi.

"What are _you _doing? This is how you walked in the streets?" Ino was not one to shut up when the time called for it. His parents looked at her with curiosity. "You call me in this ancient place to meet your parents and you have become one of the villagers?"

"Ino…"

"Are all people in this fucked up village so bad-mannered?" Neji didn't want to look at his parents' expressions right now, but he could guess. They would be furious.

"Ino, let's go upstairs! I need to wash myself."

"You actually need to get out of this village to the real world, where you act civilized." Neji took her by the hand despite her screams and they left, but not before he heard the door close behind them with a loud noise. His mother was officially against his wedding.

A while later he was in the shower of his own bathroom and listened to Ino's yelling for his behavior, his house, his village and especially his closet. She had brought three huge suitcases with her and she couldn't fit her clothes in there.

"I expect that we will be back in the city after a week max. I'm not staying longer in this dump. Father is already planning the wedding of the century! Your parents can visit us there and…"

Neji wasn't really listening to her. Ino was unbearable sometimes. But her looks were incredible. She was tall and thin, with long blond hair and light blue eyes. She was always dressing like a model and her father was one of the richest people in Japan.

Their wedding would make him rich and famous and probably president. He was a lucky man.

It was hard not to compare her with Tenten, who was the complete opposite, not very fancy and always careless for her appearance. But she was a person that you couldn't get bored if you were with her and he was already tired of Ino.

So what? He didn't want to get back to his past. He had to move forward.

"Neji, I asked you a question!"

"Sorry, what did you ask?"

"Who is she?"

Neji covered his privates with a towel and got out from the shower. He went back in the room and saw her holding a photo and tapping her foot in the floor. He took the photo and what he saw felt like a punch in the stomach.

It was a photo of him and Tenten when they were sixteen. He was holding the camera with one hand and had the other around her waist while she kissed his cheek without looking at the camera.

"…She was my high school girlfriend." Ino seemed to calm after hearing that it was such an old story. Little did she know…

"And why is it still here?"

"I told I haven't been there since High school."

"Then…" Ino took the photo of his hand and threw it to the bin that his dirty cloths were. And for some reason that made him angry.

Later that night, after Ino went to sleep without touching his mother's well cooked dinner, Neji took the photo from the bin and placed it in a drawer below some old books.

* * *

_You can't delete a memory,_

_especially when your own heart _

_can't let go…_

* * *

Sasuke left his house at midnight with the keys of the police department in his right pocket the same time that Sakura left her own house and appeared in the street. Since their houses were in front of each other, they immediately saw each other and both cursed their luck. Sasuke would like to leave alone but he knew that it was stupid to walk in the same street as her and away from her.

"Did you get the keys?" Sakura approached him first and asked the first thing that came in her mind. "I don't want to stay out in the cold."

"Hn."

"You still use _hn_ as a word?"

"I'm speechless after I saw your clothes." Sakura wore a long dress that made a slight noise in the night breeze, silver high heels and a silver jacket that flashed as the light fell on it.

Sakura examined her look and answered with pride "This is Dolce."

"This is ridiculous." His smirk made her want to slap him right in his gorgeous face. "We are supposed to be invisible and you are dressed like a firefly."

"Do you want me to take my clothes off?"

"I don't mind. You are used in taking your clothes off for every man you meet anyway." Sakura raised her hand and slapped him hard, blushing madly with tears glistening in her eyes.

"I can't believe you still talk for this after all this time and everything I've been through! You should be ashamed."

"It's not me the one that sleeps with everyone!" That made her raise her hand again, but Sasuke left quickly and she followed, trying to seem completely normal as if she hadn't just heard the worst insult in her whole life. She had to deal with the fact that Sasuke would treat her as a whore for the rest of her life.

As they reached the police, they saw the other four waiting for them. They all turned and looked at them and it was obvious that something had happened between them. Naruto noticed her wet eyes and his red cheek and tried to be invisible for the rest of the night.

Sasuke opened the door and they all rushed in and started searching the drawers for the file. Tenten just sat in a chair and listened to her walkman, making Neji want to hit her. The rest of them searched in the dark, because they didn't want to worry the neighbors.

"I found it!" Naruto was the first to go to the right place, to the recent cases. "Tenten, come here and look!" Tenten stood up and turned off her walkman. Naruto start reading.

"_Nara Shikamaru, born in 14 July _–blah, blah, blah- _was found dead in the Konoha Lake at 22 November 2009. There are no signs of fight, so it must be a suicide. There is evidence though that he was not alone in the lake as we found two different footprints in the mud and only one belonged to the victim…_ there are also photos of the footprints in the file."

"And they belong for sure to a man. These feet are way too big to belong to a woman." Sasuke was trying to examine the photos with his flashlight and it wasn't easy. "I think that they are sneakers."

"Let me see." Sakura grabbed the photo from his hand. If she knew something well, it was shoes' fashion. "They are All-stars and they must be number 11 or 12."

"So we know the murderer's shoe number!" Tenten sat down again disappointed from the file and bored. "That's a clue! We can buy him a new pair!"

Neji looked angrily at her but then Naruto also sat and sighed. "She is right. We have nothing here and none of us found anything in their houses. We are in a dead end."

Sakura put the file where they found it and sat next to Tenten. "Shikamaru was clever. We have to think like him to find more clues."

"That's it!" Tenten stood up and started jumping up and down like crazy. "We have to search to all the old hideouts and meeting points! We have to go to the tree house and the falls and the school and all the other places we used to go to."

"Fine, but we will do that tomorrow." Neji put his jacket on and got ready to live. "They are waiting for me back home."

"We can't search the forest in the dark anyway." Sasuke pointed to the door and took the key to lock it. "I have to go back to my kid and Neji can return to his fiancé's bed."

Naruto and Hinata laughed, but the other two girls didn't like Sasuke's words that much.

* * *

_It's hard to see something that used to be mine_

_in some other person's hands._

* * *

_They are waiting for me back home._

He couldn't wait to be back with her again. And now probably they would fuck like rabbits and spend another passionate night before the wedding.

Tenten didn't want to return home, so she was walking aimlessly in the streets of Konoha without shoes and looking at the stars. Of all the places she had been to, Konoha had the best night sky. The truth was she had missed home and some weird power called her back to Konoha just to see them one last time. Maybe to see him before he got married.

Tenten knew that it was over. She had ended it back then and left the village. But it was his fault. And now the memories came to haunt her and remind her of her only one true love.

But what pained her more was that he wasn't thinking of her anymore, that he had moved on with a different woman. And she understood it this afternoon when she saw her.

Tenten was late for her date with the kids in the restaurant and was in a hurry when she saw a girl asking a villager which house was Hyuuga Neji's. Tenten stopped and looked carefully at her, trying to figure out who she could be.

"_I'm his fiancé."_

And then realization hit her and she caught a wall to prevent her from falling in the ground. She was beautiful. Tall, thin, blond, walking on high heels, graceful, obviously rich and well-mannered, she was perfect and the exact opposite of herself, simple, clumsy, rude, cynical. She was perfect for him.

She lost it after this. She threw all the food at Neji and she was still mad and jealous. He had to pay for this, but she couldn't do anything, she belonged to his past. And that Barbie doll was his future.

Hopefully they would soon discover what happened to Shikamaru and she would be away from him and her feeling again. Because it was the place that brought back her old feelings.

* * *

_Hate is a feeling similar _

_to love._

_It hurts first the one who feels it._

* * *

_-flashback-_

"_You __were my best friend!"_

"_No, Sasuke, please listen…"_

"_Listen to what? After what I told you, how could you do this to me?"_

"_I couldn't stop it…"_

"_Is it true? What Sakura said, is it true?"_

"…_Yes."_

"_And you told her and not me? And why did you do that if that's true?"_

"_I wanted to check if I …"_

"_And you chose her? What are we going to do now if she is…?"_

"_No, don't say that… she can't be…"_

"_I don't care about you, Naruto, or her. I'm going to leave this place anyway…"_

"_Nooo, Sasuke, please…"_

"_But take responsibility of what you have done."_

"_Don't go…"_

"_I don't want to see you or her again in my whole life. Tell her to never talk to me again."_

_-end flashback-_

That was the thought that Naruto couldn't get out of his mind from the first time he saw Sasuke. They used to be brothers and now he hated him. They walked in the same street, one beside each other and yet they were so far away from each other. And Naruto knew that it was his fault and only, when Sasuke had the pleasure to know that he was the victim in that story.

Sakura avoided both of them, but especially Sasuke who was the one that insulted her in the worst way and less Naruto who caused so much damage on her. The three of them knew each other long before school and the gang. Their houses were close to each other and they had spent their childhood together. Sasuke used to sleep night after night in Naruto's house and Sakura was usually between them trying to stop their stupid fights.

They were supposed to last forever.

And Naruto had ruined it. Along with Hinata's feelings and Neji's friendship.

"Where are you going? Your house is here." He heard Sasuke's voice from very far away and that stopped his thoughts, as he realized that he passed his house and now he was in front of Sasuke's.

"I…I was thinking about Shikamaru and the clues…"

"There are no clues. We are losing our time." Sasuke turned his back and was ready to enter his house, but Naruto didn't want to leave him alone.

"You don't want to learn what happened to Shikamaru?" Naruto felt the urge to grab a rock and throw it straight to his head. "Shikamaru didn't do anything wrong, you know. We left him here alone."

"No, it was you who did something wrong and never took responsibility like a man. Oh, I forgot that you are not a man."

Naruto froze in position at Sasuke's words and gave the other the opportunity to get in his house and leave him alone in the street.

_Damn you, Uchiha Sasuke. _

* * *

_I'm trying to hurt you as much as you hurted me,_

_But how can I hurt you,_

_when__ I love you so much?_

* * *

**Next morning at the Hyuuga Estate.**

Thankfully Ino didn't find out Neji's absence from her bed last night and now she was calm enough to eat a nice breakfast with his family and his closest relatives, meaning Hiashi and his family. Their last night conversation was both in his and Hinata's mind and they were looking for an excuse to leave for the tree house and look for clues.

Neji still wanted to make his parents like his future wife and he was trying to start a conversation, but Ino's denial to talk to them or eat his mother's breakfast wasn't helping the situation. She stayed away from the bread, the pancakes, butter, jelly, cheese, ham, milk and instead she drank a glass of juice and ate an apple.

"I will make you a list of the thinks that I eat." It took his mother a while to realize that Ino was referring to her and was bossing her around. "I stay away from fat, carbs, sugar and proteins."

Hinata looked at Neji with a terrified look in her face, her father left his newspaper and exchanged a disgusted look with his brother and Neji's mother was breathing slowly to prevent herself from hitting his future wife with an egg.

"And I will stay at the sauna all day." Ino discovered earlier that there was a sauna in the house and she couldn't wait to try it, without even asking for his father's allowance. "Do you want to join me, Neji-kun?"

The sexual hint of her words didn't go unnoticed from his mother, who was already over the edge. She was ready to burst, but Hinata at last thought of something. "I'm sorry, but Neji promised to help with something at the morning."

That was a nice surprise for the family that understood that the gang was up to something again and they still cared for eachother. Their mothers ever began to hope that they would stay for a while and make the village a happier place again.

But their smiles slipped off their faces as Ino opened her mouth again. "Can't you hire someone, Kihana? I bet most of the people in this village are poor."

Hinata blinked, but answered really annoyed. "It's Hinata and people in this village already work really hard." Neji started to fell that not even Hanabi would like his fiancé. "Let's go, Neji."

Neji stood up, kissed Ino in her cheek and left with Hinata, hoping that Ino would offer to help with the dishes or at least ask their permission to use the sauna.

They day outside was perfect, not too hot or too cold and the sun was shining above them. The village was full of life in the morning. Cars were in the road and people were talking and laughing and waving at them as the headed to the forest.

Neji saw Sasuke's back and yelled at him, but as Sasuke turned to them they saw the baby that he had with him. Hinata gulped and Neji froze for a moment, but they went to him and looked at the baby with big eyes. She was asleep with her head on her father's abdomen and she looked like a doll.

Hinata couldn't help but touch the little hand with her own big one and smile at the beautiful sight.

"Can you two stop starring at my kid, so we can reach the tree house sometime today?"

"But she is so cute!" the asleep baby had caught Hinata's finger and now she walked like a crab. "I could stare all day."

"Please don't." Deep inside him Sasuke was very proud for the beauty of his daughter. He knew that she looked like him and only and he was very protective of her.

Neji was surprised from the image of Sasuke as a responsible father and he decided to ask the question he wanted to ask from the beginning. "What about her mother?"

Sasuke frowned but answered. "She has no mother." Hinata gave Neji a warning look that said 'don't ask'.

They left the road and entered the forest, taking the well known path for the tree house. The plants had grown up a little and there were weeds everywhere, but nothing had changed from their childish memories. This place was still a paradise. None of them could mutter a word as they got closer and closer to the tree house. That place was always their most beautiful secret. They used to celebrate their birthday there when they were at school and they used to make plans for everything there.

Even the history of the tree house was a happy memory for them. Neji and Naruto found the biggest tree of the forest and they decided to build a house there. They were around eight years old at that time and so full of energy and fantasy. All seven of them worked the whole summer for it and they used to make additions every year, so it ended very big and steady.

Sasuke couldn't help but think of the past. _I made this place. I cried and laughed and had fun and made friends in this place. I gave my first kiss here…_

They found the stair and it was still steady. Sasuke climbed up with caution since he had the baby with him and Neji helped Hinata up before he entered. And both three of them stood there for several minutes and watched the place that used to be their hideout.

Hinata quickly started to open the windows due to the smell of closed space and tried to get rid of some dirt that made the green sofa look grey. When she finished Sasuke sat down with the baby and Neji looked at the old cupboards for something that Shikamaru could have left there.

Not much time passed before he found a not very old newspaper in there and started to read. Hinata noticed the paper and went closer to him.

"What is this Neji?"

"Ee?" Neji moved his eyes from the paper to Hinata and showed it to her. "I found an old newspaper from Suna that was published in 2008, at 22 March."

"Suna?" Hinata tried to remember if Shikamaru had any relation with Suna, but she couldn't think of anything. Suna was a town at the other side of the mountain and it was the biggest town in their prefecture. People from Konoha went there frequently from supplies.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard that made everyone gasp and stand up, but then they heard Sakura's voice cursing and they understood that she fell from the stair as she used to do frequently at the past. But at this time she didn't fall on the ground, because poor Naruto was behind her and now she sat on his face as she continued to curse.

And the three people in the tree house couldn't continue playing serious and adult anymore, so they burst out laughing and didn't even care to go down and help them. Tenten appeared behind some trees and started laughing as well, but she helped them up and they looked at each other before their laughter was heard as well. They all climbed to the tree house still laughing and they froze as they saw the baby in Sasuke's lap.

The little girl had woken up from the noise and now she was smiling as well looking at all the strange faces that she hadn't seen before. Tenten approached them and sat beside Sasuke and without asking him, she took the baby from him and took it in her own lap.

"How beautiful!" Sasuke tried to protest but his girl liked the woman smell of Tenten and the soft female hands and started to play with the beads of her necklace. "Sasuke, what an angel!"

Sakura couldn't even look at the baby and for some reason was very angry. "Is she laughing at my fall?" She shook her head. "That's not polite."

Tenten laughed, thinking that Sakura was kidding, but Sasuke couldn't stop his ironic answer. "She is not even one year old and she is not so stupid to believe that high hells are the appropriate shoes from climbing trees."

"These are Manolos from New York."

"And they should have stayed there."

"And the baby should have stayed home!"

"My mother had somewhere to go and how can a person compare a kid to shoes?"

"Stop it!" Neji couldn't believe how quickly these people ruined his bad mood. All this time he watched how calm and mother-like Tenten looked with the baby in her lap, but she caught him and now he had to show them the newspaper. "I found something!"

And he showed them the article that Shikamaru's hand had cut from the newspaper. Sakura in an attempt to ignore Sasuke took it from him and started reading it with loud voice. _"Yesterday at Saturday 21 March 2008 a young woman and her five years old son were found dead as their car crashed with a tree. An explosion was caused and a small fire started, but it was quickly stopped. The police hadn't still discovered the woman's identity and none has searched for them in Suna or the close villages…"_

Sakura stopped reading and looked around to her friends. "Does anyone understand?" They all shook their heads, but as Sakura left the article down a small paper fell on the wooden floor, having Naruto immediately pick it up and read it.

_Saint Marie's Orphanage_

_Sabaku Street 144_

_Suna_

"A card from an orphanage?" Naruto at least couldn't understand a thing. "If Shikamaru was alive, I would kill him for the stupid clues he left us!"

* * *

**So, what do you think?**** If you liked it, review and if you don't like it review and tell me your opinion! I'm open.**

**I'm sorry that I made Ino stupid in this story, but I needed a bimbo and I didn't want to use an OC. Can you guess what has happened between them and they stopped being friends? ot someone finds it, I will dedicate the next chapter to him!**

**Till the next time, goodbye!**

**zoikoiroi**


	4. get some more clues

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**3. ****GET SOME MORE CLUES**

Naruto was bored as hell in his sister's wedding rehearsal. His family was talking and laughing wearing ridiculous clothes that made them look like a circus performance. As for him, he was alone in an uncomfortable chair counting the seconds to the moment that his mother would let it come to an end.

What happened in the tree house was still in his mind and he was trying to find an explanation for what Shikamaru had left them.

A letter crying for help

Two wedding rings

An article for a car accident

An orphanage's card

He couldn't understand at all what Shikamaru wanted to say. Tomorrow the six of them would travel to Suna and visit the orphanage. It was the sanest thing they could do after they found that card. His mind calmed down and traveled to their laughter this afternoon, when Sakura fell of the stair. And then to the way the laughter stopped after Sakura and Sasuke fought. It was obvious that that thing between them wasn't over and it was stupid because they had never been in a relationship. He didn't even know if they had kissed.

And then he remembered Hinata and he could say that she still hadn't forgiven him. All these days she had never spoke directly to him and not even looked directly at him with her weirdly beautiful eyes. Every time he looked at her, her eyes would turn to the floor. It pained him that she hated him, when they used to be so good friends.

At the other hand, Hinata never saw him as a friend; she always liked him and he thought that he was in love with him. And he was…

"Naruto!"

He stood up as if electricity went through him and realized that his mother was standing in front of him and she looked very angry. "Don't tell me you fell asleep in the rehearsal!"

* * *

_I cannot think straight when I think of you_

_You make my mind turn into jelly_

_And I will never ever get over it…_

* * *

**Next day at the street.**

They had decided to take Neji and Sasuke's cars because they were the bigger ones and they would all fit in there. Neji started to get angry as the time passed and the usual late people –Sakura and Tenten- were still nowhere to be found. Sasuke was in a bad mood but not worse than Naruto, that thought that he had to travel for an hour in a car with someone that didn't want to talk to him or even look at him

"Ok, that's it!" Neji was at his limit and he found the perfect excuse not to travel at the same car as Tenten which was what he feared all morning. "We are leaving now! I'm taking Naruto and Hinata and you, Sasuke, wait for them. Meet you there!"

That was a good situation for him, but not that good for poor Hinata that was hoping that Naruto would be in the other car and now she was doomed in an hour of silence.

And Sasuke was not very pleased as well, because he didn't want Sakura with him. It was certain that they would fight and she would distract him. But Neji didn't give him much time to think and object; he got in his car waiting for the other two to follow.

Hinata immediately opened the front door and sat in the seat next to the driver, trying to avoid looking at Naruto for the next one hour. Naruto sighed defeated and sat in the back seat of Neji's brand new and extremely expensive car wishing that he wouldn't stink anything.

And they left in full speed, leaving an astonished Sasuke behind, breathing the dirt of the road and wishing that he could leave as well.

"Nooo!" He heard Sakura's voice and turned his head to see her as she ran to him trying to get Neji to see her and stop to take her with him.

"It's your fault for being late." Somehow it bothered him that she didn't want to travel in his car with him. He didn't get to think a lot about it though, because Sakura, clumsy as she was tripped on her high heels and fell on him, taking him down as well.

The dirt started to sit on the road, but Sasuke couldn't see anything as he felt a sharp pain in his back and he couldn't stand due to her weight sitting on him.

He soon figured out that it was her hair in his eyes and his mouth touched her neck before she raised her head and sat on him, trying to fight the dizziness in her head. Sasuke was ready to push her off him, but he forgot everything as he realized that she sat on a certain area of his body that started to appreciate her weight, her warmth and especially the friction that she caused as she was trying to move.

It was true that he hadn't had sex in a while, from the day that his wife left him, and she used to be the fantasy of his adolescence. Furthermore, she was too hot for her own good and as she sat on him, her eyes closed and her luscious lips open, she looked good enough to eat.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura opened her eyes and turned her head. Sasuke gasped and pushed her off him. Tenten was standing before them, looking at him with amused eyes and a knowing smirk.

"That clumsy idiot fell on me." Sasuke tried to look angry and avoided Tenten's eyes, proceeding to wipe the dirt out of his clothes. He was in a need of cold shower and he hoped that it wasn't obvious to them.

After they cleaned themselves they got in the car in silence and they stayed like this till they reached their destination. Tenten lied in the back seat and fell asleep, while Sasuke and Sakura sat next to each other and didn't mutter a word for an hour.

The situation wasn't any better in the other car. Neji was a silent driver and he only paid attention to the road, ignoring the two other people that were in his car. Hinata had taken a book with her and now she was reading it without really paying attention to the others. So Naruto was left alone with nothing to do and he did the most expected thing in a car; he watched the scenery from the back windows. Soon he got bored and started to watch something more alive, something like Hinata in the front seat.

She chose to come with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, looking very casual and comfortable with herself. She was never very thin and she still had a lot of cleavage to cover; Naruto could say that she was a C-cup at least. At that particular moment her long hair was up in a ponytail and her face looked calm and happy as she red her book.

Before he could stop himself and think about it, he brushed lightly his finger on her cheek and he found it as soft as he expected it. Neji didn't see him, but Hinata felt it and turned her head to face him. Her cheeks blushed and her breath hitched as he brought his face closer to hers and she felt his breath on her nose. His hand left her face and moved down to brush her arm and find her palm. Hinata felt awkward but held his hand any way and looked frightened at Neji, who had understood the tension and was a little nervous.

"I think that's Sasuke behind us."

And indeed Sasuke had caught them and now he was driving right next to him and was ready to leave him behind. Neji, a car lover as he was, couldn't let this happen and increased speed so that he was first again. Sasuke smirked and did the same and both of them were driving full speed as they went down the mountain to reach the bigger road to Suna.

It was the most fun thing to do in a car for both of them, but not for their company that was not very fond to car races. Hinata pressed at Naruto's hand enough hard to cut his blood circulation and he screamed at Neji's ear to stop and drive like a normal man. In the other car, Sakura hid her face in her hands and was trying to stop her tears; she was afraid of cars and Sasuke knew it. Tenten was almost as determined as Sasuke; she wanted to win (and Neji to lose).

"Sasuke if you pass him, I promise I will let you fuck me!" It was a joke and Sasuke knew it, but it frightened Sakura even more and silent tears started to appear in her cheeks.

They could see the road and they were ready to end it there, but suddenly a bid track appeared in front of them and cut their way. It was passing the road and they both tried to stop their cars in time before they hit him. Three loud screams were heard and Sasuke that was first turned right and drove the car in some bushes beside the road.

Both cars stopped in front of the road and the drivers got out and started to look for any damage in their cars. Luckily they were fine, but they would have to change elastics soon.

Naruto helped Hinata out, because she was shocked and frightened and unable to walk steadily. With her still in his embrace he turned to the two idiots.

"Are you guys insane? You could have killed us to race each other." They looked at each other and smiled apologetically. They knew that they loved danger, but they shouldn't race in such a little road full of dirt and rocks. Sasuke avoided look at Sakura's seat.

Tenten got out of the car and stretched her arms. "That was one hell of a race!" Hinata and Naruto looked at her as if she was crazy. "Sasuke, your car is effing amazing, Sakura almost peed herself."

That made them all turn to Sakura who sat against a tree and cried silently.

"Oh, come on!" Sasuke approached her and gave her his hand to stand up. "It was no bid deal." She took his hand, stood up and started to punch him in every possible place. "No-punch-big-punch-deal?-punch-You-punch-almost-punch-kill-punch-us-punch-bastard." It didn't pain him; she was weak and he knew that she was scared to death.

He grabbed her hands and stopped her to make her look at him. "Ok, ok! I will never race with you in the car again." That calmed her a little and she stopped struggling for a while. They smiled to each other and then Tenten interrupted them.

"Did I tell everyone that I caught Sasuke and Sakura fucking in the street this morning?

* * *

_Friends are similar to good wine_

_They get better as time pass. _

* * *

As the gang approached the orphanage they decided not to enter all together the building but send a couple inside to pretend that they want to adopt a child. After much thinking Naruto and Hinata decided to do it, because it was certain that no one else could succeed.

Anyone could understand that Neji and Hinata were relatives, Tenten was bored, Sakura didn't like being with Sasuke nor Naruto and Neji was too cold to pretend a father to be. Naruto and Hinata after this morning could get along well.

"Ok." Neji had thought the plan and was very anxious about his cousin who obviously was still weirdly attracted to Naruto. "Do you know what you are going to say?"

Hinata answered him. "We will tell that we are married and we want to adopt a child." She looked at Naruto who continued. "Then we will tell that we had a friend named Nara Shikamaru that recommended this orphanage."

Sakura suddenly remembered the rings. "Oh, mention his wife Temari, too. They may know her name instead of his."

"Yeah, Sakura is right." Neji was ready to take action as well. "I and Sasuke will do to the police department to ask for the car accident. They may have recognized the woman and the child at the end."

"And I with Sakura" Tenten mentioned "will go to that café over there to wait for you. Come there after you have finished."

Neji couldn't stop his ironic answer. "You will do most of the work as always. I am afraid that you will get too tired."

Tenten stuck her tongue out at him and took Sakura to go to the small café that could be seen from the orphanage. Neji shook his shoulders at the rest and left with Sasuke to find the police department.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and Hinata seemed a little frightened, so he held her hand for the second time that day and guided her inside. Poor Hinata was very confused about Naruto's behavior. He showed her affection when he was… Or maybe he wasn't? She needed to find a lot of strength to ask him and mostly to bear with his answer.

The place was full of children, playing and laughing as they enjoyed the morning sun. Hinata couldn't help feeling sorry of them that grew up without parents.

"May I help you?" A middle aged woman was standing in front of them and smiled as she talked to them. Naruto and Hinata approached her and started their play.

"Good morning. My wife and I consider adopting a child." Naruto was playing cute and kind and Hinata suppressed a laugh at his change. "You have so many children here."

"Yes, sir, this is the only orphanage in this prefecture. All children from the villages around come here."

"Really? What do you think, my dear?" Naruto turned to her and she kicked lightly his foot before turning to the lady with a new idea.

"Do you have any child from Konoha? We intend to stay there and it would be nice to have a child from there." Naruto smiled approvingly to her, but the lady didn't have good news for them.

"Konoha? Isn't this a very little village? No, we don't; they don't have many children anyway."

"Oh." She was expecting them to adopt with so much happiness that Hinata wanted to clear things up before it was too late. "We have not decided yet if we will adopt for sure, but we came here because an old friend recommended this place."

If they disappointed her, the lady didn't show it but continued to smile sweetly at them. "Someone that has adopted? It was a now or never situation.

"Nara Shikamaru. Do you know him?"

"…No, never heard of him."

Naruto played their last card. "His wife's name is Temari. You may know her."

"No, I don't."

"How long do you work here?" Hinata didn't want to accept that they came to a dead end again.

"Twenty years. I am responsible for adoptions and I would know them if they had ever been here."

"…Ok." Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her back. "We will call you as soon as we decide. Have a good day!"

The lady waved back at them as they left disappointed.

"And we have nothing at all." They stood in front from the gate for awhile and talked for what they have done.

"Leave it, Hinata. It was a stupid plan from the start. We don't even know what we are looking for! His kid, the kid from the accident or…?"

"The kid from the accident died."

"Then why was the card in the article?"

"And did he even have a kid?

"Hinata, you are a genius! The town hall is the place we should go and search for his family situation!"

Hinata's face lightened up and she laughed with triumph along with Naruto. She opened her hands and she meant only to hug him, but as he moved to her he unconsciously pressed his lips to her making her eyes open widely as his own closed and his hands took their place around her waist. It was not aggressive; he didn't use his tongue as usual, but it was warm and sweet and… one-sided.

Hinata's hands fell down and she froze in her place, astonished with her eyes open. Her heart skipped several bits and there were thousand of thoughts and questions in her mind. Naruto felt her apathy and stopped, blushing madly as he turned his head away and left her to go to the place where Sakura and Tenten were waiting for them.

* * *

_Why are you doing this to me?_

_I thought that I was over you._

_but this doesn't seem to be the case…_

* * *

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Neji found the police department and went in to with the article they had in hand to ask the officers. As they entered the building, the officers watched them carefully as they hadn't seen him before. They asked if they could speak to someone privately and an officer sent them to his superior, officer Zetsu.

As they entered the small office, Sasuke remembered his father telling him that he didn't like that Zetsu because he was too violent and mysterious. His appearance was very weird, as if he was ill, but he pointed to the seats in front of him and they both sat.

"What can I do for you?" He hadn't given his hand to them and Neji thought that it would be hard for them to take information from him.

"Hello, my name is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke was the first to speak and he tried to be friendly. "You may know my father, Uchiha Fugaku."

"Oh, I do. He is an officer as well."

"We would like to see a file from your office." As they expected it, he immediately tensed up and shook his head.

"That I believe is illegal." Neji couldn't help but worry about the officer. He signaled Sasuke not to tell anything specific to him, but Sasuke had already thought what he should say.

"You know we can't find an old friend of ours and we heard that last year there was a car accident and a young woman died. We only want to learn her name."

The face of the officer remained calm and he looked at them carefully. Then to their surprise, he opened a drawer and took a file out of it. Neji was even more worried that the officer remembered the case so well, but again he shouldn't have many cases in this town, right?

"The woman was never recognized. None looked for her or her dead child. What is your friend's name?" Sasuke knew that he had to say a real name, because the officer would search for her after.

"…Haruno Sakura." Neji looked at him with a grin in his face; Sakura woulg kill him after he said that to her.

"Do you want to report her missing?" That was something that they hadn't thought about.

"What do you think, Neji? Neji looked at him with his don't-you-dare glare and then turned to the officer.

"Her parents should do it if they don't find her. Thank God we didn't tell them for that accident." They both stood up at once and got ready to leave. "Thank you for your time, officer."

As soon as the door closed behind them, Zetsu searched in the catalogs for Haruno Sakura and found her, born in Konoha and currently leaving in Tokyo. Then he took his cell phone and called a numbed he remembered very well.

"It's me… Something happened …Two men came and asked for her… They don't even know her name, but they are from Konoha… What? … Do you think that he had talked to them? … The one was the younger son of Uchiha… They said that she could be a friend of them, Haruno Sakura… I will find her… Warn everyone… Ok… I'll call as soon as I find that Haruno."

Neji and Sasuke unluckily hadn't heard any of this and they were already in their way for the café where the girls were waiting. As they reached it they noticed Naruto and Hinata there and they didn't look very excited, so they didn't expect good news.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing! She didn't know Shikamaru or his wife and we just stood there like idiots." Naruto was still very embarrassed for kissing Hinata and he spoke quickly. "But we thought that we should go to the town hall and ask for his family situation."

"And you can go alone, since your father is the mayor." Tenten, still bored, sat in a chair with her long legs laying in another and finished her second coffee. "What did Sasuke do with the idiot?"

Neji was too busy starring her naked legs to answer her, so Sasuke did it. "Nothing also. The name of the woman remains unknown, but the officer was very suspicious. We needed to tell him that Sakura was missing to confuse him."

"You told him what?"

"It was necessary, Sak! He was very weird."

Hinata tried to forget for a moment the kiss and remembered that she was lawyer. "I thought about this, too, and I think we should not tell anyone that we searched for clues. If someone murdered him, this must be dangerous."

"Now, shall we return home? I'm pretty tired!" All five of them turned to look Tenten as she spoke and then they burst out laughing like crazy, making all the people in the café look at them and smile as well. Tenten was a natural talent on making everyone laugh.

* * *

_As I grow up that I realize_

_that I already had_

_all I craved for when I was young…_

* * *

They arrived at Konoha at noon and they all went to their houses, except from Naruto that went straight to the town hall to search the computers. He found Shikamaru's name and red the information with his mouth open. Then he printed it and ran to find the others.

He first hurried to find Neji, so he could bring them all together and announce the new information. He knew that it was noon and he shouldn't interrupt people's lunch, but it wasn't the first time anyway. He knocked the door and the usual 'who is there?' question was heard.

"It's Naruto. Can I see Neji, please?"

"Naruto, dear boy, come in!" Neji's mother was always very kind to him even though he came at such a time. He entered the house and went straight to the kitchen where Neji was waiting with anticipation.

The first thing he noticed was that Neji's fiancé was painting her nails on the table when the other three were eating. She turned her face and looked at him with such an arrogant and irritating face that he felt that he had done something very wrong and he had to apologize.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your meal…"

"It's ok. I have accepted that all the villagers are uncivilized."

"Sorry?"

"Naruto is a good friend of Neji's." Neji and his father covered themselves as it was obvious that his mother was ready to throw the table in Ino's head.

"Neji's friends are people from the city that go to the club and play golf, not villagers with bad taste in clothes!" Naruto immediately checked her clothes and he found them fine.

"What is wrong with his clothes?" Naruto didn't think that the fight would be over soon and passed the print to Neji. As he red it, his eyes opened wild and he looked back at him as if he didn't believe what he was reading.

"I'm just saying that Neji doesn't fit there and that is a person that would embarrass us in society!" Naruto felt slightly offended but mostly surprised that Neji could deal with such kind of person.

"I believe, miss, that it is you who doesn't fit here!"

"Like I would like to fit it this dumb that…"

"Enough!" Neji's father was finally interfering. "Neji, I believe, needs to go."

Both women turned and looked at him. "Yes, Naruto and I have some urgent business to do. See ya."

Ino stood up and kissed him deeply in his mouth and then left to return to the sauna without saying anything to his parents.

As the dot out, Naruto gave Neji the I-don't-believe-you look and said. "At least you don't like one type of woman!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there is no way that someone who was in love with Tenten would fall for that Ino." Neji looked at him astonished for a while and Naruto grabbed the chance. "I will take Sasuke and Sakura and you inform Hinata and Tenten."

_Tenten?_

* * *

_We choose our fate alone_

_and that means that we can change it_

_as well…_

* * *

"We have a meeting at school this night." Naruto was alone with Sasuke and in his room and they whispered not to wake the baby up.

"Why?"

"I found some really important information in the town hall that clear things up a little."

Sasuke looked at him and shook his head impatiently. "So will you tell me or do you want to get beaten?"

Naruto, that indeed didn't want to get beaten, opened his mouth, but his phone rang and he picked it up before the baby woke up.

"Yes? ... Mum, don't yell in the phone… What happened to the dress? … Now? …I'll be right there… I'm close, in Sasuke's house… Yes, now… Close the phone already!"

"Problems with the wedding?"

"The dress in smaller and she can't fit. I have to take it back to Suna."

"I do feel for you!" They laughed for a moment and then Naruto remembered something.

"I will tell you what happened in short, but then you have to go and inform Sakura."

_Sakura?_

* * *

_That is fate for you._

_It will make you endure everything_

_you wanted to avoid…_

* * *

Neji was walking in front of her house for a while now and he decided that it was about time he went in. he knocked the door and no one answered, so he got in himself and tried to be as silent as he could.

He knew very well this house after all. It seemed like yesterday that he went in this same room to get her for a date or just to say hello. He reached her door and in was half open. Without wanting it he picked inside and saw her in her bed, sleeping sound less like a baby.

If he was a teenager again, he would bent over her and wake her up with a thousand kisses, before lay beside her. But he wasn't, so he would just pock her shoulder and tell her to wake up.

He moved towards her, but as he touched her she turned her back to him and brought her knees to her stomach, giving him a great view of her bottom as her skirt lifted up.

He could see now her black panties and he felt his throat dry as she moved her ass a little. He had to touch her. It wasn't like he was a pervert, but the sight in front of him was too tempting. He warned himself that she could wake and catch him, but that wasn't enough to stop him. His fingers touched lightly her thighs first and then her ass cheeks before he rubbed them a little harder.

A moan of her made him realize what he was doing and he took his hands away from her as she rolled over and came to face him as he kneeled in front of her bed. Her eyes opened a little, she saw him and smiled sweetly.

What she did next was definitely an action in her sleep, because if she was awake she would never place her hand in his neck, pull him to herself and kiss the hell out of him. Neji knew that she was sleepy, but was more that happy to continue and deepen the kiss by sliding his tongue in her mouth. That woke her fully and she tried to push him away, but he was over the edge.

She could do nothing but surrender and leave herself in the sensation of his well known mouth. He placed one hand in her stomach and the other behind her head as he explored her mouth.

"Tenten!"

Her mother's voice made him get away from her, blushing like crazy and covering his mouth and her sit up on her bed and wipe her mouth. The looked at each other for a while and then Neji spoke.

"We will meet at the school tonight…Sorry." And then he opened the door and left like crazy in font of her astonished mother that was very well aware of their past, leaving a frozen Tenten sitting on her bed and thinking of a certain Barbie doll.

* * *

_Let me know if your feelings are _

_any different._

_Mine haven't changed…_

* * *

"Sasuke, what a nice surprise! Is your mother well?"

"She is fine, Mrs. Haruno. Is your daughter in the house?"

"Oh, yes! I believe you know where her room is."

"Yes, thank you." She looked his back as he climbed the stairs, her dream son-in-law. Her daughter should do herself a favor and keep him in her grasp this time.

Sasuke knocked her door and opened it after he heard a muffled 'come in'. He entered and looked for her, but she was nowhere. He was ready to call for her but his voice didn't come out as she showed up out of her bathroom completely naked and brushing her teeth.

The moment she saw him she froze in her place and the tooth brush fell from her hands. Sakura noticed his eyes traveling to certain parts of her anatomy and after a few seconds, she screamed like there was no tomorrow.

Sasuke did the sanest thing he thought; he rushed out of her room and closed the door behind him. She continued screaming for a moment and then stopped to take a breath.

"Why did you tell me to come in?"

"I expected my mother to bring me a towel!" Her voice was weirdly high and Sasuke collapsed in front of her door, panting as if he just ran a mile full speed. "What do you want in my room?"

"I came to tell you that we are going to meet in the school this evening. Naruto found his wife's name." She opened the door dressed this time and invited him in.

"What's her name?"

"Temari No Sabaku. Her father was the former mayor of Suna. And they had a son together."

"Sasuke, do you think that they are the one that were killed in that accident?"

* * *

**What do you think? Are they? Review to find out!**


	5. answers

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**4. ANSWERS**

At midnight six grown ups were sitting in school desks of their old classroom and looked around as if they hadn't been there before. Their old desks had marking of the childhood on them and they smiled at the sight as they searched for Shikamaru's left clues.

Tenten was disgusted with the memory of her sixteen years old self as she saw all the hearts and arrows on her old desk- and most of them had Neji's name, too. But as she moved to Shikamaru's desk she found one and only book.

"Look at this!" They all turned to her and gasped as they saw the object in her hands. "A BOOK?"

Hinata got it from her hands and red the title "_Gang wars?_" As the title was heard, Sasuke immediately clapped his hands.

"I've read it! It's a detective book." They all turned back at the book and then to each other. Neji took it from Hinata's hands and started to read the back. Naruto suddenly thought of something.

"Guys, are you sure this is a clue?" Everyone looked at him and silenced. "This school is still used and there must be some other kid sitting in his seat." Neji showed them the book again.

"This is an old book, for sure." And Sakura mentioned another thing.

"And what normal kid would bring a book in school?" Sasuke felt his blood boiling in his head and just had to answer her statement.

"A kid that likes reading. Not everyone reads only magazines and instructions of make-up."

"Sasuke…"

"Who is there?"

Six people froze in their positions as they heard light steps on the stairs. And suddenly they all started to run around the classroom to find a hiding place from the intruder. Tenten and Neji both tried to hide in the closet, but as they saw each other that left it and Sakura managed to get in along with Hinata. Sasuke pulled Naruto out of the window, but before the two others find something the door opened and in front of them stood their old teacher, Hatake Kakashi.

They weren't more surprised than him as he saw them and then he slapped his forehead and laughed knowingly. The both looked at him, trying to find a good excuse for their presence there but he was faster.

"Sex at school, huh?" He closed his eye to Neji. "At least you took sooomething from your school teacher!"

That old pervert was assuming that they came to the classroom to fuck? _We have already done it here, _Neji thought, but then Tenten talked and realization hit him.

"Kakashi-sensei, please don't tell anyone! This is goodbye sex and he is engaged."

"Oh, but I thought you two would for sure end together!" In this statement they both had nothing to say and looked at the floor.

"I'm going now. Have fun!"

They waited a little for him to leave and then they collapsed on the desks. "Tomorrow all the village will know as a secret that we came to the school to fuck." As she said that the window opened and Naruto's head appeared in front of them. "He is coming back!"

The moment Tenten heard him she did the first thing that came in her mind. She stood up and hurried to Neji, sat on his lap and proceeded to kiss the hell out of him. Kakashi opened the door and found them kissing, but they hadn't any intention to stop; they continued as if none was there.

The truth was that they were too distracted from the kiss to notice anything else. Kakashi left quietly right before Neji put his hand inside Tenten's shirt and grabbed one of her tits. She immediately opened her eyes, stood up and slapped him hard on his face. He looked at her shocked and was ready to apologize when he heard the noise of the window.

The closet opened as well and four pairs of eyes stared at a blushed Tenten and an astonished Neji holding his cheek. It was pretty obvious that she had just slapped him, but none of them could imagine what he did to her. For the gang the two of them were over and he was ready to marry another.

"Let's go before anyone else come and catch us!" They proceeded to leave, but Sakura cleverly took the book with her and from that night she started to read it.

* * *

_Love is a game of luck,_

_but in the end_

_both win happiness or both lose…_

* * *

The tree house became their secret meeting place again and they all went there to talk and figure the case out. It became harder and harder to understand as they found more clues. Neji found some space in the drawer and hid their few clues there, while Hinata wrote everything in an old notebook she found. Naruto brought his sister's little whiteboard to help the investigation. It was currently in the middle of the room and Neji wrote their information.

Letter to Hinata "Please help me"

He was in the lake with a man with big feet

He was married with Temari no Sabaku they had a son and

A woman died last year in a car accident along with her son

he left an orphanage card in the tree house

Book _"Gang wars"_

"I would like to know what you think." Neji didn't like the fact that he couldn't understand what Shikamaru was trying to say to them. "The clues are very blur."

"So he was married to the daughter of the ex-mayor of Suna and they had a child." Naruto counted the facts in his fingers. "Her father and mother are dead and so are her brothers. Can this be a coincidence?"

"It kinda reminds me of the book." Sasuke suddenly remembered.

"What book?"

"Gang wars."

Five pairs of eyes stuck in Sasuke as he said the name of the book. "The book that Shikamaru left to his desk?" He explained to them.

"It is a story for two families that fought each other to rule a city in America. They were actually two gangs of thieves and murderers."

"Then we're accusing the major of Suna that he killed all the family to take their position?" Sakura couldn't believe such a thing.

"Who is the major of Suna now?" Hinata wanted to know.

Sasuke tried to remember. "I think Itachi told me that he is some weird person named Orochimaru. Itachi said that he wanted nothing to do with him and his followers."

"We are jumping to conclusions." Hinata was too nice to blame anyone without proof. "We don't know what the book means."

"I suggest we all go to bed for now and meet again tomorrow. We still have to go to the mansion." Naruto was right but just the mention of the mansion made some of them shiver.

The mansion was a very big empty house hidden in the forest close the Konoha Falls. It was built more than two hundred years ago and it was not in a very good shape, but it still was everyone's dream house. With a nice renovation it would be a real palace.

When Neji was a kid he wanted to make a lot of money and live there with a huge family and all his friends. But Ino would probably faint if she saw the place's condition.

* * *

_I fear nothing, _

_I know nothing,_

_I'm free…_

* * *

Later that night Sakura was reading the book alone in her bedroom.

_[…]_

_The woman had very little time to decide what she would do with the baby. The monsters had burnt the house__, his mother and father were dead and the boy had no other relatives. The monsters would come back for it if they found out that it was still alive. Their sole purpose was to distinguish the whole family. _

_There was only one solution. She would change his name and give the boy away. Everyone would believe that it died and turned into ash! Then it would be safe and away from the monsters. She just had to tell everyone that she didn't have the baby with her that night._

Sakura suddenly stopped reading and the truth flashed in front of her eyes. She left her bed and took her purse, then grabbed the list with the clues.

Letter to Hinata "Please help me"

He was in the lake with a man with big feet

He was married with Temari no Sabaku they had a son and

A woman died last year in a car accident along with her son

he left an orphanage card in the tree house

Book _"Gang wars"_

Then she ran out of her house to another one. She opened the door that was as usual unlocked and ran upstairs to open a very well known door. Sasuke heard the noise and woke up to find out that Sakura was in his bedroom. His eyes opened wide as he noticed what she was wearing or not wearing. She was only in socks, her tank top was loose and see-through, she didn't wear a bra and her shorts were short enough to be easily taken for panties. He gulped as he saw her nipples showing behind the fabric out of the night breeze.

"Wake up!"

"What do you want?"

"I think that I have figured out something!"

"I highly doubt it."

Sakura hit his head lightly with the book and pointed the page. "Read this."

"I told you that I have already red the book."

"Then read it again."

"_She would change his name and give the boy away. Everyone would believe that it died and turned into ash! Then it would be safe and away from the monsters. She just had to tell everyone that she didn't have the baby with her that night."_

"Don't you see?"

"See what?"

"Idiot! Why did Shikamaru left us the orphanage card?"

"How exactly am I supposed to know?"

"He wanted us to find his child!"

"His child? But the car…" Sasuke sat up and slapped his forehead. "The boy was not in the car! He let the papers think that way to protect him and he is alive in the orphanage!"

"But with another name. This is why Naruto and Hinata didn't found him! This is it!"

Sakura was so excited that hugged Sasuke and talked a little louder than she should.

"Om my God!"

Both turned their heads to Sasuke's door where Itachi was standing holding his mouth to stop his laugh. Seeing his face Sakura realized that it was four in the morning and she was all over Sasuke wearing the most revealing clothes she could manage.

She turned to Sasuke who was all flashed and angry. "What are you laughing at, Itachi?"

"This is what you do at nights with your parents and brother sleeping in the house and your daughter in the same room looking at you?" that comment caused both Sasuke and Sakura look at the crib where the baby was looking back at them with big curious eyes.

"…I-I just wanted to tell him something… I just came here…"

"Reaaaly…?"

"Itachi shut up and Sakura get out! I have to take my kid to sleep again."

Sakura left without looking back or say goodbye to anyone. There was something about this kid that made her nervous and uncomfortable. She didn't hate her; who could hate a baby, but she didn't like her either. That baby was the outcome of Sasuke's marriage and that thought made her extremely jealous.

It was the fact that Sasuke had moved on with his life, when she didn't even had a serious relationship all this time. All the guys that she had slept with were unworthy of her attention and most of them treated her with the worst possible way. And now that she became finally mature, she was in this village that had so few options for her. And Sasuke would live here as well. That was the worst possible scenario.

* * *

_I kept running and running away_

_from you all this time._

_Why am I still at the same place__?_

* * *

"Tenten! Come here!"

It was still nine in the morning and yet her mother was yelling at her from downstairs. She had to go but she was so sleepy from her last night activities that couldn't find her way.

"I hope that this is something serious."

"I met Anko at the Grocery Store."

"What?" _Anko? Shit!_

"And she told that you were at school last night."

"Mother…"

"With Hyuuga Neji!" Tenten felt her palm sweating and her knees trembling. She knew that nothing she would say could make her mother believe and she didn't know what to say anyway.

"I can explain."

"How, Tenten?"

"…" Her mother closed her eyes and sat at a chair exhausted. She was desperate.

"I thought so. You are sleeping with someone that is engaged, Tenten."

"We were just talking…"

"Do you think that I am stupid? A man and a woman, meeting secretly at night to talk? Are you two crazy? He is getting married!"

"Mum, listen to me…"

"I know that you were madly in love, but aren't you over him after all these years?" Her mother's secret wish all this years was that Tenten would end up with Neji and live in the village for ever, but she abandoned the plan when she saw his fiancée.

"Mum, do you want me to talk the truth?"

"Please."

"No, I'm not over him." It was herself that had to listen to the truth and stop struggling. "But we were talking about Shikamaru and all the gang was there. I would never do anything with him as long as he is engaged. We kissed just to make Kakashi believe that."

"Are you saying the truth?"

"Yes, mum."

"Then neither I nor your father will care for the village rumors. They want you and Neji together anyway; they don't like that Ino. She thinks to high for herself."

"Do you find her prettier that me, mum?

"No, dear, she isn't. But I will tell you one thing: I didn't raise you up to get between couples and do such low things. Just try to forget him."

"I will."

_I just need a new boyfriend._

* * *

_I am not going to admit it,_

_But I know very well what I feel._

_I am jealous…_

* * *

"Sakura!"

She turned her head and saw Naruto behind her. She smiled at him and gave him one of her bags from the market. They walked together in silence for a while and hen Naruto found the courage to ask her what he wanted to know.

"Ne, Sakura, are you and Sasuke together now?"

"What? Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"I saw Itachi this morning and he said that you are paying Sasuke late night visits." She sighed and cursed all the gossip obsessed people of this village.

"Oh, this! I just discovered something and had to tell someone. We will tell you all everything this afternoon at the tree house."

"Oh, that's all…" Sakura didn't fail to notice the disappointed look in Naruto's face and wonder.

"Naruto, do you want me to hook up with Sasuke?" _Why?_

"No, it's just that… Sasuke hates me."

"Yeah… me too."

"No, Sakura, I'm certain that he likes you and…"

"Naruto don't try to fix it by lying to me. I will never forgive you for not telling me that he was in love with me back then. No he is over it; he even got married."

"See? You hate me, too. Everyone hates me except from Tenten maybe." Sakura suddenly felt sorry for him. Back then he was testing himself like a normal teenager and that caused him to lose all his friends.

"I don't know about Sasuke but I definitely don't hate you. I was unlucky that you chose me to tell your secret and it was my fault that I wanted to help y…"

"SAKURA!" Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her with him behind a stopped van in the street.

A police car was stopped in front of Sakura's house and two policemen were at the door. They were not from Konoha, but probably from Suna. The one had long blond hair and the other red and they were both tall strong men. They were not very old or too young, but neither Sakura nor Naruto knew them.

"Who are they? What they want?"

"I don't know! Are your parents home?"

"No, they are both working at the morning."

"Then we will go and talk to them. Remember that we know nothing about Shikamaru."

They grabbed their shopping bags and started walking slowly to Sakura's house. The policemen saw them and looked at them suspiciously. As soon as they opened the door both of them moved to them and the blond saw them his gun.

"Can we talk to you for a while?" The red head smiled seductively to Sakura making Naruto want to puke in his mouth, but she actually smiled back.

"Are you Haruno Sakura?"

"Yes."

"My name is officer Deidara and this is my colleague, officer Sasori. Do you live here?"

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I thought that you had gone missing." Naruto suddenly remembered that Sasuke and Neji said to the Suna police department that Sakura was missing when they were looking for Shikamaru's wife. He hoped that Sakura remembered that as well.

"Me?" She obviously didn't. He grabbed her hand and almost stopped her blood circulation to warn her.

"Oh, don't remind me of all this horror we went through!" All three of them looked at Naruto who was extra dramatic and theatrical. "A whole year no one knew where she was!"

"Really?"

"Thankfully she came back last week and now she will stay here forever!" Sakura still hadn't understand and was looking at him like was crazy. He fought the urge to slap her in front of the officers.

"Glad you are fine now, miss." The policemen looked relieved and satisfied for what Naruto had said them.

"Just one more question… Do you know someone named Shikamaru Nara?"

Naruto gulped and started to sweat, not knowing what to say to them. Sakura finally understood and looked at Naruto, asking him what to say.

"I-I knew him… a long time ago… we went to school together." The blond officer looked a little worried and Naruto decided to help Sakura out of the situation.

"We haven't seen him since graduation. They told us he died. Is something wrong?"

"No, everything is fine. Have a nice day!"

They moved quickly to their car and the blond sat in the driver's seat. The red head looked back, smiled at Sakura and spoke for the first time this morning.

"Miss Haruno?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have your phone number?"

* * *

_They say that_

_You understand that something is important_

_Only after you have lost it… _

* * *

"And she gave him her phone number?" All of them were sitting on the couches of the tree house and Naruto just finished telling what happened in the morning. Sakura was very concentrated in painting her toe-nails and ignored Naruto's words about her flirtation with the red head officer.

"I can't believe it!" Hinata hit her arm lightly to make her look at her. "He is asking suspicious questions about Shikamaru, we lie to him and you still want to go out with him?"

"She was always known for incredible stupidity." Sasuke had put on a face that looked like he didn't care, but the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Why don't you stop interfere with my love life and tell them about the book?"

"What about the book, Sasuke?" Hinata took it from his hands and red the pointed page.

"I and Sakura think that the child was not in the car with the woman, but Shikamaru made them believe that to save him. He must be in the orphanage in a different name."

"And Itachi think that they are a couple!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Neji stood up and started walking up and down in the room. "This would explain the book and the orphanage's card! And we just have to go back to the orphanage and ask about any children that came there last year."

"I and Naruto can't go again. It will seem suspicious!"

"Hinata is right."

"I will go." Everyone looked at Sakura speechless. It was very rare for her to volunteer on her own. "What are you looking at? I want to go shopping tomorrow."

"Then Neji will take you there with his car and he will pretend to be your husband."

"Neji looks too much like Hinata." Naruto wasn't going to give up the plan to hook up Sakura with Sasuke. "Sasuke must pretend to be her husband."

"Naruto is right. It is obvious that I and Hinata are relatives, but I will come just for the company. Are you coming, Hinata?"

"I want to come for shopping as well." Hinata suddenly wanted to spend some time out of the village. "Why don't we take Ino as well? She has to spend some time out of the house."

"Why don't we all go?" Tenten hated shopping, but she was very curious to meet Neji's girlfriend at last.

All night she couldn't sleep and she spent the time trying to choose clothes and calm herself, but she was actually very upset and worried to meet her.

The next morning Tenten was the first at the meeting point. She had let her hair free on her shoulders and she wore a knee-long grey dress with sneakers. She even had a little make-up on.

Sasuke came right after with his car and looked at her weirdly; it was so not her to be punctual and so carefully dressed. Then he remembered that Neji would bring his fiancée with him and from what he had heard Ino was very beautiful and woman-like.

Naruto came right after and cat-whistled making Tenten want to go home and change. He and Sasuke laughed with her blush and looked at each other. Naruto couldn't help teasing her a little.

"Sakura would be proud of you."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Speaking of Sakura, didn't I tell you to take her with you?" Sasuke slapped Naruto lightly on the back of his head. "Who knows how long it will take for her to get ready."

"Surely not longer than Ino." Hinata approached them and sat on the bench next to Tenten exhausted. "I was waiting a whole hour in Neji's house and she is still not ready! Not to mention that she was talking all the time. I got a headache!"

"I met her the other day and I thought that Neji went crazy." Naruto sat next to Hinata and very close to her, which didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke, especially when his hand caught her waist. "She said that I have a bad taste in clothes and I would embarrass her in society."

Sasuke and Hinata burst out laughing, but Tenten felt like crying. If that was the woman that Neji wanted to marry, then there was no hope for her. "I think that she fits him. It must have been difficult for him to find a woman as arrogant and proud as him."

Thankfully that was the time that Sakura appeared and interrupted them. She left them all speechless with her clothes again. She wore a floral sleeveless top with a lot of colors, tiny jean shorts, a light silver jacket and a pair of black seven inches-high ankle boots with silver details. Her sunglasses were also sparkling and huge and her purse had the shape of an ice-cream.

Sasuke smacked his own forehead and looked at her in despair.

"What, Sasuke?"

"Sakura, you are going to the orphanage in order to adopt a child!"

"I know…"

"Didn't I clearly tell you that you clothes shouldn't attract attention?"

"This is why I wore these."

"Are you kidding me? If someone saw you in these clothes, he would never forget you!"

"Look at her first and then talk to Sakura." All five of them looked back as Hinata talked and saw Neji coming with his fiancée in his car. Ino chose to wear a pink pencil skirt with a white top that left a lot of her rich cleavage out and a matching pink jacket with pink high heels, that made her look like a more sluttish Reese Witherspoone from "Legally blond". She didn't get out of the car to talk to them, but she continued texting on her cell phone.

"Everyone, this is Ino."

They all waved at her and she didn't even paid attention. Sakura even told her name, but she didn't even look at her. Hinata was ready to grab her phone and throw it in the bin, but she put it in her bag and turned to Neji with an annoyed gesture.

"Are we going to stay long here, Neji? I thought we would go shopping."

"Yes, everyone get in the cars!"

Hinata got in Neji's car and Naruto was ready to follow her, but Tenten rushed and got in first beside Hinata. That made Neji wonder, because he knew that Tenten preferred to travel with Sasuke, but he couldn't say anything in front of Ino. The truth was that Tenten was determined to know more about Ino and their relationship.

That left Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura travel together in Sasuke's car. This would normally be very awkward, but Sasuke and Sakura seemed a lot calmer than the other day. Sasuke and Naruto sat in the front seats and Sakura was left alone behind with no one to talk with.

Both the cars started at once, but the drivers had now the common sense not to race each other. At the first car, Neji was silent but Ino didn't stop talking for a second, making Hinata and Tenten wonder how did she manage to breath.

"…and I don't believe that there are still roads like this one. Look at all this dirt! I can't believe that I'm going shopping in a little village; I bet that all the shops will be for poor villagers with last-season fashion! How could you, Neji Hyuuga, live in this dump for eighteen years? I am here only a week and I already want to return to civilization! Oh my God, you have to get the car washed. Is it even a car-washer in that Kohana village?"

"It's Konoha and no, there is not car-washer. We wash our cars alone."

Tenten didn't want to talk, but Ino's arrogance made her mad. Ino turned her head and for the first time noticed Tenten's presence. She immediately recognized Neji's high-school girlfriend from the photo and started to scan her appearance. Her eyes stopped at the long free hair, the small covered breasts and the long legs, but she came to the conclusion that she was not a match to herself.

She smiled pretended friendly and she turned to Hinata. "Won't you introduce your friend to me, Hinabi-chan?"

"It's Hinata and this is Tenten."

Tenten smiled pretended friendly and talked even more sweetly. "Nice to meet you, Ino-chan."

"The pleasure is mine."

Neji look through the mirror at Hinata with a terrified expression. Not only Ino was being king, but Tenten was also answering kind. This had to be the end of the world.

Meanwhile at the other car, Naruto was looking confused at the back of Hinata's head. The past few days had been a torture to him, since he was thinking of her and their kiss all the time. It was a torture because he didn't know what she was thinking and if she still liked him.

"Dobe, what are you looking at?" Sasuke knew how to ruin someone's mood.

"…Nothing, teme, just the scenery."

"Really? Because it seemed to me that you were starring at Hinata."

Naruto gulped, but Sakura came to his help. "And what do you care? He can look whoever he wants."

"I was just curious whether or not he likes Hinata."

Naruto knew what was coming and wasn't prepared for it. He knew that he had hurt Sasuke a lot back then and he wasn't ready to let it go yet.

"And what do you care if he like Hinata or not? He is not married or with child like you."

"I was just wondering, because last time I remember, he was gay."

* * *

**Well, what do you think? Is Naruto gay or not?**

**I have noticed that a lot of people have favorited this story, but I still get a few reviews every time. Please review some more, because this story is really a lot of work.**

**Next chapter will be the first lemon…**

**Bye!**


	6. nara shikaku

Story: Memories

**don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**5. NARA SHIKAKU**

"_I was just wondering, because last time I remember, he was gay."_

Naruto's breath hitched and for some moments all that was heard was the noise of the car and the radio. Sakura gulped loudly and tried to talk but no voice came out of her mouth. Sasuke had already regretted what he had said.

"I'm sorry."

Naruto looked straightly at his former best friend and suddenly found the courage to answer. "I don't know." Sasuke stopped the car and also looked at him in the eyes.

"How can you still not know after all these years?"

Sakura was trying to be invisible in the back seat, but she knew that her name was soon to be involved. Naruto was trying to find the right words to speak about his feelings for the first time.

"I have never been in a relationship all these years, but I have had sex with both men and women. And now I don't know whether I'm attracted to Hinata or I just feel guilty."

"You mean that you like women, too? And now you are attracted to Hinata?"

"I don't know."

"You probably are bisexual." Sakura made them both look at her and Naruto's eyes darkened.

"Naruto," he looked again at Sasuke and found him very serious "you cannot ask from Hinata what you asked from Sakura back then. She was in love with you and she won't be happy if you experiment with her."

"Neither will Neji." Sakura hoped that they would not talk about her anymore, but that was not the case.

"Anyway I don't think that Hinata would ever sleep with someone like that. She is not that kind of woman."

"You mean is not a slut like me." It was Naruto's turn to leave them talk alone and pretend to be invisible.

"That is not what I said." Sasuke started the car again to show that the conversation was over, but Sakura was not going to let go.

"You think that, because I slept with Naruto when I was 17, I am a slut."

"I just think that it is weird that you slept for the first time with a boy that you didn't love and moreover your best friend's boyfriend."

"He had a very serious reason to ask me and we both have regretted it."

"Well, we all saw you in the magazines with various men, when you were much older. And is it true that you were on drugs?"

Sakura was about to cry and felt relieved when she the other car stopped and Neji waving at them. Right before the car stopped, she moved forward and whispered in his ear loud enough for Naruto to hear "Sorry, but I thought that the boy I loved didn't want me."

Naruto knew that it was said for him to hear. That night that he slept with Sakura in the tree house she was crying for Sasuke and he took advantage of her, while he knew that Sasuke was trying to tell her that he was in love with her as well. The worst part was that Hinata, who was his girlfriend back then, saw them and told everyone, making him admit in front of everyone that he told Sakura that he was gay and she agreed to help him cure it.

Sasuke remembered again that he didn't have the courage to admit to Sakura his feelings back then and continuously hurt her for a long time, so he turned his head to look at her, but she was faster. Before anyone managed to stop her, she rushed out of the car and went to the other girls.

Naruto felt like shit. After his conversation with Sasuke, he knew that he had forgiven him, but Sakura hadn't. If he had told her that Sasuke was in love with her, she would have never slept with him and nothing would have happened.

She went straight to Tenten and Hinata and tried to look calm, but everyone could see that she was upset. The two boys got out of the car and they had a similar look, so none wanted to ask what happened.

Neji had his own issues and paid attention only to Tenten who was extremely friendly to Ino. Tenten was avoiding his eyes and tried to look normal. Ino was smart enough to suspect the tension between them and made a plan in her mind to make the other girl understand that Neji was only hers.

Hinata only wanted to go shopping and took everyone out of their thoughts. "Ok, listen to me. Sakura will go to the place she needs to go and we will go shopping. Then she can come and find us."

"Ok, I'm going now. See you later."

She was looking forward to some time alone. She wanted to think what she had said to Sasuke earlier and how she would act in front of him from now on. She decided to try to avoid him as much as she could and find a boyfriend.

Sakura stopped thinking about Sasuke as she saw the orphanage door. She had no idea what she should say or how she would recognize the child, but she had a good feeling.

As she got in, she looked for some adult, but she could see only children. She sat in a bench and watched them play for a while, until she noticed a little boy starring at her weirdly. She smiled at him but he continued to stare. Sakura thought that he was desperately looking for someone to adopt him and felt sorry for the boy.

She forgot about him quickly, but after some minutes he came at her on his own.

"Hi."

Sakura smiled at him. "Hello there. What's your name?"

"It's Shikaku."

"Nice to meet you." She gave him her hand, but he didn't touch her. He just continued to stare.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"…You have pink hair." He said that like it was an accusation and Sakura felt insulted. She was used of people teasing her for her hair color, but he was a kid and she was adult. He should show some respect.

"What do you want, boy?"

"What's your name?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Just answer, troublesome woman!" Every noise around her stopped as the boy's words were echoing in her head. She could not feel hot or cold, her brain was not working and she couldn't see anything but the boy.

"I asked your name!" The boy seemed really annoyed and irritated. Sakura knew that expression very well; Shikamaru wore the same every time she talked to him. His appearance though confused her. Shikaku was blond with green eyes and a little chubby, he looked nothing like Shikamaru.

"What's your last name?" The boy turned his back to her and wanted to go, but she grabbed his arm.

"Leave me alone, old lady!"

"How many hours do you sleep per day?" It was the first thing that came in her mind. He was too clever not to see the reason she was asking.

"I will tell you everything if you just tell me your name."

"…It's Haruno Sakura." The boy's eyes widened and a big smile grew in his face. He hugged her tightly.

"My father had told me that you would come for me!"

"Shikamaru had talked about me?"

"Not only you. He had told me about all his friends and I had seen pictures of you. When I saw your hair I remembered your name. He had promised that if I stayed here with another name you six would come and take me with you."

Sakura was lucky that the boy could not see her face as he was hugging her. She was speechless and unaware of what to say. Shikamaru had told his son that they were going to… adopt him?

"When are you going to take me from the orphanage?" He finally left her and she found the courage to smile to him.

"I have to go find the others and tell them that I found you. Then we will all come here and talk to the ladies." Shikaku was smiling so sweetly to her that she couldn't look at him straightly in the eyes.

"Oh, Sakura! You know that you cannot tell anyone my real name, right?"

"Yes." She stood up and kissed his cheek. "Wait here, ok?"

"Ok"

_I need some fresh air._

* * *

_When you have to choose_

_b__etween right and easy,_

_What should you do?_

* * *

"Is this the bigger clothes place here? I can't believe how cheap this store is! I bet that my bag costs as all the clothes here together."

Ino's voice was the first thing that Sakura heard when she entered the store. She knew that she could not say anything in front of her, so she decided to close another open case. She saw Sasuke heading to a changing room and as the store was almost empty, she followed him. Hinata and Tenten were far away with Naruto and the store manager was too busy with Ino and Neji, so no one noticed her presence.

She closed the door behind her and came face to face with Sasuke's naked back. Thankfully he had still his pants on. He saw her in the mirror behind him and turn around to face her.

"What are you doing here?

"You asked me something in your car and I wanted to answer."

"Do you realize that we are in a changing room together and it's forbidden?" She acted as if she hadn't heard him.

"I never was a good student, so I became a model and used to be a good one. I have slept with many guys and yes, I was on drugs. The only reason I returned to Konoha was that I was broke, after I got out of rehab."

She was steadily looking at his eyes and he didn't seem angry or disgusted, just surprised. Before she realized it, he lowered his head and kissed her.

It was long and soft and sweet and it made her want more, but she was sensible enough to end it there. She gently pushed Sasuke away and opened the door, but before she left the changing room he grabbed her arm and pulled him back in.

She tried to protest but the moment she opened her mouth Sasuke found the opportunity to stuck his tongue inside in a fierce passionate kiss. Sakura was sensible, but also was a woman. Not to mention that she hadn't had sex in a while and Sasuke was semi-naked.

Her back hit the wall, but she didn't mind at all. Her hands were too busy on Sasuke's naked muscular back as he deepened the kiss almost bruising her lips. Their tongues were battling in her hot wet cavern and she could feel at last his hard-on.

Sakura wanted to help him free his member, so she undid his pants and put a hand in his boxers. That was enough to drive Sasuke over the edge and he could no longer spend time in foreplay. With a fast move he turned her around, so that her breasts were pressed on the wall and undid her shorts that fell on the ground.

With one hand he took her panties out of his way and pushed his member hard all the way in her tight wet pussy. Sakura's mouth opened in a soundless scream of ecstasy. She hadn't managed to see how big he was and it surprised her; he probably was the bigger she had ever had.

She didn't get to think much about it though, because suddenly he took it out and then pushed back in with even more force. He grabbed with both hands her waist and continued his thrusts fast and hard. Every time he hit her G-point a little moan escaped her so she covered her mouth with her hands, hoping that no one could hear them.

As she turned her head, her eyes widened in the sight of their reflection in the mirror. She could see clearly his large cock going in and out of her pussy in a frantic rhythm, but she preferred to stare in his sweaty face. His eyes were closed, but his mouth was slightly open and he was breathing with difficulty. Somehow that aroused her even more.

As his movements became faster, almost erratic, Sakura felt the familiar pressure in her stomach and knew that she was close. Her orgasm was the longer and most intense of her life. She didn't manage to suppress a loud moan at the end. Sasuke continued to thrust for a while and then pulled out and came in a handkerchief she had given him.

Her legs couldn't hold her weight and she fell on her knees. Her panties were extremely wet and she sat on the new shirt he wanted to buy. He tried to put his pants on, but his hands were trembling.

"Sasuke?"

They both froze as they heard Naruto's voice right behind the door. Sasuke was still trying to catch his breath.

"Sasuke, are you in there?"

"Hn."

"We are going to the next store. Ino couldn't find anything she liked."

Sakura quickly wore her shorts and left without looking at Sasuke even once. He knew that she was embarrassed and she wouldn't talk to him for a while, but it was worthed. After talking to Naruto and having sex with Sakura, he felt a lot calmer. He grabbed the new shirt and went to the cashier to pay for it. He looked forward to seeing Sakura's when she saw it on him.

Meanwhile Neji was in extreme need of a strong drink. Ino was as annoying as ever to him, but she seemed to love Tenten. The two girls were changing clothes and laughing like old friends. Hinata and Naruto were also in shock; Tenten would normally be extremely bored around a person like Ino.

The moment Sakura entered the store looking completely normal Ino was holding a green mini-skirt in front of Tenten's face yelling "Dear, go wear this one! It's your color."

Tenten thanked and obeyed, which made Sakura wonder what had happened while she was fucked by Sasuke.

"What's going on here?" All three persons shook their heads and continued to look at the scene. Tenten got out of the changing room wearing the skirt that was absolutely horrid and made her look like a slut.

"Oh, it looks great on you; you must definitely buy it! This shop is so cheap that even you can buy anything."

"Is she crazy?" Hinata wanted to say more, but she stopped as Ino came to their direction and kissed Neji deeply in the lips in front of everyone. She continued to ignore Hinata and Naruto, but she seemed very pleased with Tenten.

"I absolutely love Tenten-chan, she is so nice! It's such a pity that she is dressed like homeless people! Luckily I will help her with her clothes today." In reality Ino was trying to make Tenten look ridiculous in front of Neji and make herself look nice and kind.

"Neji, how do you comprehend with her? She talks all the time!" Naruto asked him and he couldn't find an answer.

"Why is Tenten so nice to her? When I used to dress her, she never appreciated it. And I have a better taste!" Sakura said when she saw an awful orange dress with a very low cut.

"And why is Ino so attentive? I'm Neji's cousin and she can't even remember my name!"

At last, after Tenten bought the green skirt, Hinata found a nice white dress and Ino took everything she had liked, they were ready to return to Konoha. Tenten preferred Sasuke's car and Sakura went with Neji. Poor Tenten fell asleep in the first two minutes. Bearing with Neji's fiancée and watching then make out all day was the most excruciating and exhausting thing she ever did.

* * *

_Sometimes the pain makes me wonder_

_why do we fall in love._

_I don't remember the last time you made my happy…_

* * *

What happened with Sasuke made Sakura forget the exciting news she wanted to tell to the others. She waited all day till their night meeting in the tree house and when they were all there, she started to tell them the news.

"I was sitting in a bench alone and a little boy approached me. He asked me about my hair and then my name. When I told him my name he jumped on me and said that he was waiting for me, that his father had spoken of me."

"He recognized your hair? There must not be a lot people with your hair color!" Neji was very excited. "How did he look like?"

"That confused me at first because he looked nothing like Shikamaru. He is blond with green eyes and his name is Shikaku. And… he called me troublesome woman!"

"No way!"

"But there is a problem."

Sasuke sighed and muttered "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! But Shikamaru promised him that we would take him from the orphanage…"

"WHAAAT?" All six of them stood up and started yelling all together,

"Shut up!"

"How did that idiot promise such a thing?" Hinata said "There is no way we can fulfill his promise."

"But we cannot leave him alone in that place! If you had seen him, you would be more sensitive!"

"Sakura, I already have a child whom I raise by myself!" Sasuke protested "I cannot take another one!"

"And I am single," Naruto had panicked "How can I raise a child without a woman? Plus I work 12 hours a day, I am too busy!"

"I'm getting married to Ino! I cannot ask her to adopt a child of someone she doesn't know!"

"I travel around the world in a van with a rock band and make no money at all" Tenten yelled "I am no suitable mother."

"I am single, too, and so are you Sakura." Hinata suddenly remembered that she was a lawyer. "The court approves an adoption when there is a family with two parents who can support a child. They would never give the child to any of us."

"Ok, all of you sit down." Neji had the serious face that used when he had something very bad to say. "Shikamaru promised what he wanted, but we all have lives. A child is a big responsibility and none of us is in position to take it. Sakura's past is widely known from magazines; they wouldn't give her the boy even if she was married. Sasuke is already a single father. The rest of us will soon be gone from Konoha and on our own. The boy will be better in the orphanage."

"He will be better when someone tried to kill him?" Sakura was ready to cry. "We are his only hope! And we still have to find out who killed Shikamaru. This is the only way to save him."

"Sakura, we are out of clues." Naruto sat beside her and hugged her shoulders. "And if we ask we will be in danger, too. You saw what happened with the officers. The police are with them."

"Then the killer might be the major of Suna, that Orochimaru guy. He killed the former major and all his family."

"This is just an assumption." Hinata after all was a lawyer. "There is no evidence."

"Maybe there are more clues. We still haven't gone to the Falls or the Mansion."

Neji cleared his throat and everyone turned to look at him. "We can go to the Falls tomorrow. But… the day after tomorrow I have to return to Tokyo for good. They are expecting me."

* * *

_If I had only one day left,_

_I would choose to spend it with you…_

_My heart is bleeding._

* * *

The Konoha Falls were very famous in Japan due to their height and the amazing nature around them. The six friends used to go there when the weather was hot to play and swim in the little lake. There was a tiny boat house, where they kept towels and such things.

At early spring people from Konoha gathered here to celebrate with music and dancing and such things. That time was early autumn and no one was there. They carefully looked everywhere, but there was no sign that Shikamaru was there.

"And we still have nothing…" Naruto was tired because that evening his sister was going to be married, so he laid on the ground close the water and closed his eyes.

Hinata approached him from behind, took her shoes off and run in the lake wetting Naruto all over. Naruto screamed and open his eyes to see her laughing with her feet in the water.

In his opinion she looked beautiful and he would thank her for waking him up, but he had to pay her back and more importantly to wet her white T-shirt as well.

Hinata tried to run, but he caught her and they both fell in the lake. The water was a little cold, but as soon as they got used to it, they stared purring water to each other, swimming and laughing like the good old times.

Sakura watched them fascinated and remembered the times she returned home wet and muddy, with cuts and bruises having her mother yell and the whole village laugh and admire. They were heroes back then, everyone talked about their adventures.

"They look good together, don't they?" Sasuke had sat next to her looking at Naruto and Hinata playing in the water. She turned her head to nod and she froze as she saw the dark blue shirt from the morning.

"I think we should talk." Sakura's voice was different.

"What for?"

"You know what Sasuke." She looked around and she didn't saw Neji and Tenten anywhere. "We had sex in the morning."

"You mean that I fucked you in a changing room on the shirt I wear right now."

"…Yes! Why did you do that?" She was no longer pretending to watch Naruto and Hinata; she looked him directly in the eyes.

"You didn't like it?"

"This is not the point here…"

"Because if you liked it, I would be more that happy to do it again." Sakura's eyes widened. She wanted to tell that she liked it and she was ready for more, but she had to know how Sasuke felt for her.

"I'm not some slut that fucks just everyone. I want to have someone special like everyone else!"

"Then I can be your someone…" Her surprised look made him laugh. "I don't think you are a slut, Sakura. I'm totally into you."

Sakura looked around to spot the others. When she saw no one she rolled over and landed over Sasuke and started kissing every little part of his shin until she found the lips, where she paid more attention.

"We'd better not tell anything for the moment." Sasuke told her. "The whole village will start to wait for the wedding."

"Shut up and kiss me."

Meanwhile, Neji and Tenten where heading to the mansion. The atmosphere was very awkward and heavy. Neji had just announced that he would leave for Tokyo in two days. Tenten had spent the whole morning listening to their wedding arrangements, so she knew why he was in such a hurry.

The moment they faced the mansion Tenten was already ready to cry and the state of the house made her even worse. The beautiful garden was full of huge weeds and the walls were covered with moisture. Most of the numerous windows were broken and some parts of the roof were missing.

"Time was not kind with this place." Neji said and she could do nothing but nod in agreement. Neji opened the heavy wooden door and looked for anything that meant that Shikamaru was there.

After almost an hour he made sure that there was nothing in any possible place in the house. He looked for Tenten, but he found here nowhere and then he thought of the one place he couldn't go.

There were a lot of bedrooms in this house, but only one was special to them both. It was the place where they made love for the first time when they were 15 years old. He hesitantly opened the door and found Tenten lying on the large wooden bed, where he had seen her naked body for the first time.

"What are you doing here?" He was secretly hoping that she would say that she was dreaming of him and their passionate times on that exact bed and then let him devour her for one last time.

"I was just thinking."

"Of me?" She stood up and took a weird expression, like she wanted to laugh and cry in the same time. Then she opened her mouth, but not words of love came out.

"When is the wedding?" Neji had forgotten that he was going to get married.

"…Two months from now."

"Then what do you care if I'm thinking of you?" Her expression now was pure pain. Tenten knew that she was going to cry. "It doesn't matter." She said before leaving him alone in front of his memories.

* * *

_Past, present and future__…_

_All of them are connected in a mysterious way,_

_and you can't have the one without the other…_

* * *

_flashback_

"_I think I can stay in this bed with you forever…" Neji kissed her soft brown locks and held her closer to his body. Tenten's naked body gave heat to his cold one as they were watching the sky from the open window._

"_That would be perfect if we didn't have to eat. You exhausted me again, lady!"_

"_Then you should stop chasing after me all the time, mister."_

_Neji kissed her again. "I'm afraid I cannot do that at all. But I won't have to chase you if we live together!"_

_She laughed and mocked him. "Are you aware of the fact that we are 16?"_

"_When I come back from college, I will come here and fix this house for you and we will live here forever. I will adore you and serve you like a queen"_

_End of flashback_

Childish dreams… What bliss he would feel if had woken up and seen Tenten besie him! But all he saw was Ino's sleep mask and those weird funny things that made her hair curly. She looked absolutely hilarious.

But she was going to be his wife. It was necessary if he wanted to become president. He had to do it. But he also had to know if Tenten was still thinking of him.

_It matters to me._

* * *

_There comes a time in life, _

_when you have to decide what's important._

_Are you going to make the right decision?_

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were the last to return home that night. They were still wet and dirty from the lake.

"My mother is going to have an heart attack when she sees the state of my clothes!" Hinata laughed as she remembered Naruto's loud and bossy mother, who yelled at him all the time.

"She won't even notice today. Your sister is getting married!"

"About that… Would you like to accompany me to the wedding? She ordered me to bring someone." Naruto noticed how her smile disappeared and regretted inviting her.

"Why don't you ask Sakura?" She stopped breathing as she waited for his answer.

"Because…" Naruto chose the words carefully "I would like to have especially you."

"And why?"

Naruto thought a lot of what to say and he didn't find anything, so he did the obvious thing to do in such situation; he grabbed her arms, pulled her closer and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"I would love to come in your sister's wed..."

"Naruto, Hinata!"

They both turned their heads and saw Neji coming to their direction.

"I was just asking her to accompany me…"

"I heard it and right now I wouldn't care even if you were fucking her in the middle of the street."

"Neji-nii!"

"After the wedding meet us here!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm leaving tomorrow and this is our last chance to break in Orochimaru's office!"

"WHAT?"

* * *

**I hope you liked the sasusaku part! But our beloved (****just kidding) Karin will return in the next chapter… Read and Review!**

**What did you thing about the Sasuke-Naruto-Sakura triangle? Naruto was a jerk back then, wasn't he? What do you think that will happen to Sasuke and Sakura when Karin finds out?**


	7. truth

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**6. ****TRUTH**

The night was warm and silent, as all the villagers were still celebrating in the wedding. Naruto was still there with Hinata, but Tenten had already left and was in the meeting point. She enjoyed the silence very much before the danger.

She knew very well that breaking into Orochimaru's office was not the most brilliant idea Neji ever had, but it was their last chance to discover something.

_I will leave to Tokyo in two days._

The last two days were pure hell for Tenten, who was very well aware that she was still in love with Neji and she had no more chance with him. Her meeting with –beautiful, feminine, chic- Ino and her conversation with Neji in the mansion were just making things even worse.

She was never good with dilemmas. The decision she made when she was eighteen hadn't still changed but neither had her feelings. Neji still wanted to become someone big and important and she was in the way. Whatever she could do, she would never be the right person to stand beside him and he knew it as well as she did. This was the reason he chose Ino over her.

A little noise interrupted her thoughts and made her look around. It took her a while to discover Naruto and Hinata making out behind some bushes slightly drunk. She cleared her throat as loudly as she could making them notice her presence.

Hinata blushed and stopped kissing him, but Naruto just stuck his tongue out to Tenten and pushed Hinata down without any intention to stop what he was doing. Tenten heard her giggling and smiled as the sounds became more and more perverted.

Some moments later Sasuke and Sakura came with his car and stopped in front of her. She got in the car and listened to Sakura's blabbering about the wedding and the clothes, but she didn't fail to notice some lipstick marks in Sasuke's shirt and Sakura's destroyed hair.

_Am I the only one that's not having sex around here? I only kissed Neji a couple of times and __nothing after that.__But he doesn't have a problem since he is engaged…_

"Where are the others?" Sakura asked as she noticed how moody Tenten was and tried to get her out of her thoughts. Then she remembered that Neji would leave for Tokyo the next day. That explained everything.

"Neji has to wait until _Ino _is asleep to sneak out. As for the others, they are behind those bushes in baby-making process." Sasuke laughed and looked at Sakura knowingly. It was obvious that they were silently communicating and that made Tenten feel even lonelier.

"Obviously Neji is doing exactly the same that Naruto and Hinata do right now. This is why he is so late." The venom in her voice didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke and Sakura.

"It's actually hard to believe that Neji wants to marry Ino. He can't stand people who talk too much and he even called me superficial!" Tenten recognized sympathy in her voice and felt worse.

"Why would he think of that when you are so deep kind of person?" Sasuke wanted to tease and that was his perfect opportunity.

"Shut up, you insufferable…"

"Guys, since Sasuke's shirt is full of lipstick marks, you don't have to pretend that you don't like each other!"

Sasuke looked at the hem of his shirt and sighed. "This is what happens when you put on so much lipstick!"

"Well, my lips are bruised thanks to you and I have to cover them!"

"Didn't hear you complain when…"

"If you want me to leave you alone in the car, just tell me!" Tenten was too depressed to actually have fun with their sexual tension.

Sasuke wanted her to leave them alone, but she was too sad to tell her that, so he just answered "Yelling to us won't help Tenten. Neji is the one that you should talk to."

Before she managed to answer Neji's car appeared and Hinata came out from the bushes and stormed into Sasuke's car. Naruto was not happy that he was left alone with Neji, but it would be better if he didn't see his cousin's current state.

Hinata's hair was full of leaves and dust, her clothes were dirty and she was utterly blushed.

"Don't get my car dirty!"

Sakura punched his shoulder and giggled. "Did you have fun in the wedding Hinata?"

Hinata blushed and smiled shyly. "A lot of fun indeed! What about you guys? Did you have fun as…?" She stopped as she noticed Tenten's mood. "What happened?"

Before Tenten could think of an answer Sakura replied. "Neji is leaving tomorrow morning.

Tenten was ready to deny it and Sakura was ready to tell her that she was in denial, but Sasuke stopped them both. "Girls, concentrate in our business tonight and leave your love life out of this. If we get caught, we are screwed." Despite his words, he whispered something in Sakura's ears and she gave him a congratulating look.

After an hour the two cars stopped behind Suna's town hall and checked for any lights in the windows. It was obvious that no one was there at nights. They covered their heads in case there were cameras and Tenten unlocked the back door with a credit card.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and then said "Neji and Tenten, stay here and watch out for unwanted visitors."

Tenten tried to protest. "Why me and him?"

"If someone sees you, you will pretend that you are a couple making out in a dark corner." Tenten's look frightened the hell out of Sakura. "Sasuke's idea…"

"Stop wasting time and come here!" Sasuke pulled her inside from her waist and Neji sighed.

"Are they together at last?"

"Seems like it."

"Good for them."

"What is good? I would kill myself if I was to end up with my high school crush." It was a very well-thought comment with only goal to hurt him and it succeeded. Neji looked astonished.

"…But I was your first love, wasn't I?" Tenten wore her most carefree face and smiled.

"Come on, Neji; don't be silly! I wouldn't call it love… it was more like a childish enthusiasm that lasted a little longer." _What the hell am I saying?_

_What the hell is she saying? _"I don't recall us doing childish things. I would say that we were very mature for our age!" The desperation was obvious in his voice.

"Really? Maybe you were. After all even then you were only thinking about your big future career. But to me it was just a fling. I had forgotten everything until I saw again." _My nose is going to grow up._

"But… I mean… we… it was more that just a crush! We were together for three years…"

"We were 15 years old! Don't pretend that it was important." Neji started walking back and forth looking for the right words to express his feelings. That was exactly what Tenten wanted to achieve. She wanted to force him to tell her if he still had any feelings to her. At the end Neji calmed down a little and looked steadily at her eyes.

"You may lie to yourself as much as you want, but you can't lie to me. What we had was important for both of us and we were really in love back then. Don't forget it, because your feelings are changed now."

_It is not the right moment, but it may be the only one I have. _"My feelings never changed, Neji." Tenten walked away from him without giving any time to answer.

* * *

_No heart can belong to more than one person._

_Eventually you will have to choose._

_Heart or mind?_

* * *

"Sasuke, over here!" Naruto had just opened a wall and he was now standing in front of a passage that went downstairs. They had spent the last couple of hours reading the major's papers and nothing seemed to be illegal nor did they find anything for the Sabaku family. Sasuke was started to think that they had been wrong to suspect Orochimaru.

"Someone is there!" Sasuke immediately turned off the flashlight and tried to hear any noises. Someone was breathing hard down there. Sakura caught his hand and pointed to the exit, but it was their last chance to discover anything.

Sasuke silently started to move forward until he reached a dark room without a door. Inside it there was a cage and there lied an alive man! He opened the flashlight and looked carefully but no one else was there.

"Naruto, come down there!" Naruto came along with Hinata and Sakura who squealed when they saw the man. He didn't seem to respond; he had just passed out.

Hinata quickly found the keys and opened the cage to help the man. "He probably hadn't eaten for days. Who is he?"

Sakura suddenly heard a noise and gasped. "Let's take him and leave before anyone finds out about us."

Naruto and Sasuke grabbed the man and ran out. They quickly left the Town Hall and met Neji and Tenten. "Whom did you kill?" Tenten huffed and forgot everything for a moment.

"We didn't touch him and he is alive. He was in there imprisoned!" Hinata hissed as she helped Sasuke put him in the car. Then she also got in and Tenten rushed after her to avoid Neji. Sakura sat in the front. "Let's take him to the tree house!"

Sasuke and Neji were driving so fast in the night that Sakura was sure that they were going to crash. The boy seemed to be a little better as the cool night breeze was hitting him.

Hinata started to notice his features for the first time. He was thin and short, but should be around their age or even older. His eyes were shut, so she couldn't tell the color and his hair was red. When she moved his hair a little she saw a bright red tattoo on his forehead, but it was so dirty that she couldn't understand it.

"I think now he is just asleep. He is breathing normally." Hinata was still holding him and found his pulse. "Why do you think that they caught him?"

"He is going to tell us as soon as he wakes up." Sasuke responded calmly and continue to drive.

When they reached the forest they left the cars and continued on foot. Sasuke and Neji carried the boy easily to the tree house since he was so thin. They left him on the couch and waited for him to wake up, but he continued to sleep.

"Maybe we should wake him up." Sasuke suggested but Hinata immediately protested.

"He is too weak. We should let him sleep as much he wants!"

"But I have to leave in the morning. Ino has already packed and she can't wait."

"Then go and we will continue without you." Neji turned around to face a very angry and upset Tenten standing away from the others. "We don't need you anyway. Bon voyage!"

"I will stay here and watch him till the morning." Hinata said to help Neji.

"And I will stay with you. After the wedding no one will search for me and he may attack you when he wakes up." Naruto started to feel uneasy that Hinata seemed to be so fond to the stranger and he wanted to spend time with her alone.

* * *

_The memories are all we share now._

_You are leaving me alone_

_again._

* * *

"Tenten!"

"Why are you following me, Neji?" She was purposely taking huge steps to avoid him, but he was too fast when he wanted something. He grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"This is my last night here in Konoha, Tenten." She took a pained expression and tried to tell him that she didn't care, but his lips on hers stopped her. She pushed him back and slapped him but he didn't seem to mind and kissed her again.

_How dare he? He is such a good kisser… no, focus Tenten and push him away! __Think of worms and spiders in your mouth… his tongue is in my mouth! Bite him! I don't want to hurt him… don't respond! Shut up, inner! This is our last night together._

The dialogue in her mind stopped and she noticed that her legs were around his waist and he was carrying her in her house. He knew that her parents were still in the wedding and found the opportunity to get in her pants!

His well known mouth that she had kissed numerous times was soft and warm as remembered and his tongue was as clever as ever. He always was the dominant one and she just submitted to him as he pushed her on the couch and got above her. After he bruised her lips, he attacked her neck and the sensitive spot that he had himself once discovered.

Suddenly he let go and sat back, but only to take off her T-shirt and free more of her skin. Every part of her body he had touched was on fire and he continued to caress her. She could now feel his erection forming and she grew impatient.

"I can't believe you told me that we were just a fling!"

When did she tell him that? She couldn't remember at all! Why would she tell such a lie to the man of her life?

_Because he is getting married. To. Ino. Wake up!_

She pushed him away with so much strength that he fell on the floor. The look on his face was priceless. She would have laughed if she wasn't ready to cry.

"I meant it."

"What?" Neji was in shock and basically he was drone in disappointment. He was sure that he would get to make love to her that night and he was unbelievably hard.

"I'm not in love with you anymore. I just thought that I could give you a nice bachelor party since you are getting married next month.

Neji's mouth and eyes opened wide in surprise and disgust. Tenten was hurting him beyond belief and ruining all his hopes of happiness. He slowly stood up and approached her. Then he did something that he had never done to any woman before.

Tenten was just standing there and waiting for his response, but instead he slapped her hard on her face. She took several steps back and tried to cover herself, but Neji was too hurt to stay with her any longer.

"For my bachelor party I will hire a professional whore, but thank you for volunteering."

* * *

_A broken glass cannot be fixed,_

_unless you search for every little piece, heat it well_

_and work hard…_

* * *

"Mmm…Naruto-kun…"

Things were a little heated in the tree house since Naruto and Hinata were left alone with the passed out man. After everyone left, Naruto started to pout about Hinata paying to much attention to the stranger, so Hinata felt that she had to pay more attention to him. She hugged him and kissed him and said that she loved him, but since that wasn't enough she found a more creative way.

She undid his pants, pushed him to lie on the floor and gave him a nice blowjob as she knew that this was the most secure way to make a man forgive. But since Naruto was already horny, he didn't let her finish, exchanged positions with her to come on top and proceeded to please her as much as she did him.

"Who are you? What are you doing? Where am I?" Naruto and Hinata screamed together and tried to cover themselves as they heard the unknown voice. They had forgotten the man, who woke up to see that he was free in an unknown place with two strangers fucking on the floor in front of him.

Naruto's penis softened immediately as the red-head was looking at him with his weird green eyes. "How much time are you watching?"

The man smirked. "Since she yelled 'deeper, harder' and you…"

"Shut up!" Hinata wanted to cry out of embarrassment as she was trying to fix her clothes and avoided to look at the man. "Who are you?"

"Since you kidnapped me and brought me in this wooden house, you have to tell me who you are first." He was now casually sitting in the couch and having fun with Naruto and Hinata's embarrassment.

"I am Naruto and this is Hinata. We found you in the Town Hall and were kind enough to free you and hide you here."

"Who told you I wanted to hide?" Naruto already felt annoyed from the lack of gratefulness.

"You were hurt and imprisoned by the major…"

"Don't call him the major. He is not. Orochimaru is just a filthy thief and liar. The government is looking for him and I am going to help them as soon as you tell me where I am." Hinata and Naruto looked at each other and then back to him.

"Do you have proof?"

"Of course! Why do you think that they had me imprisoned?"

"What's your name?"

"Gaara no Sabaku…"

"Whaaat…?" Hinata squealed and Naruto fell off his chair. Gaara laughed on their reaction.

"What happened to you, people?"

"Is Temari no Sabaku your relative?" The man's eyes darkened and his smirk gave away to a pained expression.

"Did you know my sister?"

"Your sister? Are you Shikamaru's brother in law?" Naruto and Hinata were shocked. They had discovered someone that could tell them the truth at last!

"How do you two know Shikamaru?" Gaara for the first time seemed serious and showed them some respect.

"We are his friends." Tears glistened in Hinata's eyes. "We grow up together hear in Konoha and now we came back and found out he is dead. But he left us some weird clues; this is why we were searching the Town Hall. We want to find his murderer."

Gaara's eyes widened. "I knew that he was smart, but not that much. You were looking in the right place. That Oto gang killed him.

"Oto gang?"

"This mountain, you see, is full of gold." Naruto and Hinata gasped. "My family knew that we couldn't take it out, because the town is built right above the mountain and we would destroy it. My father the major protected the secret and left the gold untouched to save the town until Orochimaru came from Oto and started a company 'Akatsuki Corps' to dig the mountain. My family tried to stop him, but he killed them all. He only kept me because he doesn't know where to dig for more."

"And why did he kill Shikamaru?"

"Shikamaru was very smart. He informed the government that, if they dig the mountain, it will fall and bury Suna, Konoha and the other villages. Now that you freed me I will take them clues to catch Orochimaru and his gang. Thank you very much."

Naruto and Hinata were both stunned. Gaara was ready to leave when Naruto remembered something. "What about his son, Shikaku? He is in the orphanage. You are his only relative; you have to take him with you."

Gaara shook his head disappointed. "I can't. He doesn't know me. We have never met. You are supposed to take him."

Hinata felt already guilty that they had left the kid alone and that drove her over the edge. "There is no way you can leave your own nephew even if he doesn't know you. We are not his relatives and have no family to be able to adopt him!"

"It's too dangerous for a kid to come with me. I will not return to Suna. He is your responsibility. You said that you were Shikamaru's friends. Shikaku is waiting for you."

Naruto stood up and chased Gaara who was ready to leave. "They would not give him to us. We are not married!"

"Then get married." He said that and then climbed down the stairs and disappeared in the dark.

Hinata sat on the floor and hid her face in her hands. Naruto kneeled in front of her and grabbed her hands to make her look at him.

"Hinata, do you want to marry me?"

* * *

_When everything seem to have failed_

_a__ hope of happiness is born_

_to keep me alive…_

* * *

"Well, my parents must be still in the wedding…" Sasuke and Sakura reached their houses and Sasuke should go to his daughter, but the invitation was too tempting to ignore. He followed her in her house and then in her bedroom, until they found the bed.

As he pushed her to lie on the mattress Sasuke thought that they had never done it in an actual bed before. Their first time was in a changing room against a wall and it felt like seconds to him. Then he did her on the ground next to the lake and she hit her head to a small rock and almost passed out.

He felt that he was too fierce and hard to her, but she didn't seem to mind since she attacked him in the street last night and gave him a blowjob. Of course then he returned the favor and fucked her twice on a bench in public. She was as horny as him and it lasted all day and all night. This is probably why they ended up below a table in Naruto's sister's wedding and made out like crazy.

And after they found Gaara he was horny again, but he needed to act more slow and sensual, to make her feel that she was more that a fuck-toy to him. And also he wanted to be kissed and caressed and to fall asleep in her hands.

She needed some tenderness, too, and she removed his clothes along with hers slowly, caressed his naked body and licked him everywhere. Sasuke wanted to do the same, but she pushed him to lie on the bed and came over him to show him that she was going to take care of him.

"Tell me what you want me to do, baby…" Sasuke had several things in mind, but his erection had quickly been formed and he couldn't stand more foreplay. Sakura understood his intentions and smiled.

"Just ride my cock, baby." She was used in dirty talk from him, but she still blushed and giggled. Nonetheless she obeyed and his order and started rocking slowly above him. She created a slow sensual rhythm, but Sasuke suddenly raised his torso and hit her sweet spot fast and hard. She was surprised and yelped, but she took the message and started moving faster up and down his cock till they both came.

He kissed her sweetly and she immediately fell asleep in his hands. He waited a little to make sure that Sakura would not wake up and then stood up and started dressing up. He had a little girl and Itachi was not the perfect babysitter to stay alone with a baby all night.

Deep inside him he was worried and confused for Sakura's reaction to the child. For him she was still irresponsible and immature; unable to raise a child. But he was in love with her and he didn't intend to let her out of his grasp again. He felt so happy and excited that she was finally with him, as if she was really for him. But could she love his child? If not, they were doomed. Above everything else he was a father.

He left Sakura's house and went straight to his own. The moment he got in, he heard voices from upstairs and understood that Itachi was not alone. He checked his watch and it was 4pm, so he couldn't guess who was visiting that late.

He climbed the stairs and reached his bedroom. The light was on and he couldn't understand the reason Itachi disturbed the baby's sleep. He opened the door to reveal the two persons and his breath hitched. He couldn't believe his eyes, but the long red hair, the glasses, the short figure and the nice curves were very well-known to him.

"Sasuke-kun!" His throat was dry and he couldn't get any voice out.

"K-Karin?" She ran to him and hugged him tightly. Behind her back Sasuke could see Itachi's ironic smirk and the baby sleeping in the crib. "What are you doing in Konoha?"

The lack of enthusiasm confused Karin. She expected him to feel happy and relieved to see her, but he was just shocked in a bad way.

"Don't tell me you are mad at me! I'm back! Aren't you happy that we are a family again?"

"We are not a family. You left us and we are divorced." She let go of him and for a while seemed disappointed, but she recovered quickly and touched him again seductively.

"But now I'm back." She approached him again and very clearly smelled his after sex sweat mixed with a woman's perfume and detected some pink lipstick marks on the hem of his shirt. "And you belong with me and our baby. I will make you forget everything…"

Sasuke gently pushed her away and cleared his throat. "We are over, Karin. I am not coming back. I will stay here in Konoha with the baby."

Karin frowned and played her last card. "But I am her mother. The child always goes with the mother." Karin didn't intend to take the baby with her without Sasuke. She couldn't do it by herself. But she was sure that Sasuke would follow her if she took his daughter.

Itachi stood up and went by Sasuke's side. "You left the baby with my brother and you have no right to be called a mother. We can let you see her sometimes, but she is staying here." Karin tried to become sweet again.

"I just want my family back. Sasuke and I love each other and are meant to be together." She took her luggage and went to the visitor's bedroom. Itachi patted Sasuke's shoulder and left him alone to stare at the baby's crib. _Do you want my child, Sakura? She needs a mother and Karin is the only one she has._

* * *

**I'm so sorry that I am so late. Next chapter is going to be the last. I will not make such big chapters. Again. I'ts too tiring. See you!**

**zoikoiroi**


	8. a new beginning

**Story: Memories ****don't fade**

**Author: zoikoiroi**

**Rate: M**

**Summary: Six childhood friends meet again after ten years in the little village where they grew up together. An old friend was killed and they have to solve the mystery before it is too late. Can they be friends again?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**7. A NEW BEGINNING**

"Who are you?" This simple question is usually very easy to answer when you are older than two years old. But when the person who asks is a semi-naked slut who opens the door of your boyfriend's house at 8 pm, you easily forget you name.

Sakura stood still and speechless in front of Karin for almost ten minutes, until Itachi noticed her and ran to save the day.

"Karin, this is a friend of mine, Sakura. Go dress up now."

"Ok, big brother. I'm going back to Sasuke." Itachi of course couldn't save this.

"What did she call you?"

"…She is Sasuke's wife and she came to see the baby…"

"Wife? Isn't he divorced? She had dumped him."

"Now she wants him back. You women are crazy!" Itaci laughed in a failed attempt to make her smile, but she was stunned.

"Bye, Itachi." She turned around and returned home. He was back to his wife and yet he slept with her the previous night? This was the reason he left without saying anything. Last night was a goodbye fuck?

She decided to go to Hinata's house to talk about him and find an explanation.

Meanwhile Sasuke was trying to get rid of Karin.

"I told you we are divorced and I will stay here forever. Can't you understand?" She had sneaked in his bed at night and tried to make him fuck her in his sleep. Thankfully he woke up and stopped her in time. That made him realize that he felt nothing for her anymore and the only one he could think of was Sakura.

"But, Sasuke-kun, I want my child and I will take her with me." She moved to the crib, but Sasuke was faster and stood between her and the baby.

"We will solve this in court. I'm not giving you my child. You abandoned her and even now you only care for yourself. You will not make a good mother."

That stopped Karin, but she played her last card. "And Haruno Sakura will?"

"How do you know about Sakura?"

"She was at the door a while ago. At first I didn't recognize her, but then Itachi told me her name. She has fucked half male population of Japan. You should have seen her face when I opened the door in my underwear!" And she started to laugh like crazy.

"Out!" Sasuke's face was an emotionless mask.

"What?"

"Get out of my house, out of the village, out of my life!" Karin tried to protest, but he grabbed her hand and threw her out of his room. With his shouting he woke the baby up and now she was crying loudly. He took her in her hands and calmed her down, but there was only one thought in his mind. _What did she tell to Sakura?_

* * *

_Fate…_

_Does such thing exist?_

_And how can you fight it?_

* * *

Tenten was sitting on the roof of the bakery for a while now. The sun was up and the day was very hot, but she didn't move. She had climbed up there because the bakery was in front of Neji's house and she could see in the living room from there.

When she was young she used to climb up there and spy on him. He couldn't see her but she had full view. Of course she was a masochist for wanting to see him leaving with his fiancé, whom he was going to marry in two months.

She had seen until then Hinata returning home at 6 pm with Naruto. They looked very happy and Naruto kissed her like a million times before leaving her at her door. Two ours later Sakura also entered Hinata's house, but she looked far away from happy.

Tenten was so focused on Neji's departure that she couldn't think of anything else. She didn't care for what happened with the imprisoned man that Naruto and Hinata were supposed to guard or why Sakura was so sad.

At last Neji appeared in his front door. He was dressed casually and carried Ino's stupid pink luggage to his car. She came out a while later without looking at Neji's parents at all. Tenten could tell that his mother was mad. He kissed his parents and got in his car, but Ino forgot something and she went back to the house.

It was an once in a lifetime opportunity and Tenten wasn't going to lose her. Neji was alone in the car. She jumped down and fell on the ground Neji saw her, got out of the car and went to help her.

"What are you doing here…?"

He didn't get to finish his sentence and Tenten grabbed his shirt, pulled him to the side of the store, threw him on a wall and started to kiss the hell out of him. In the start he tried to protest, but then he just opened his mouth and let her have her way with him.

"Neji, where are you?" Ino had returned to the car and Neji's parents reappeared in the front door.

For one whole minute, which seemed like a century to Tenten, he looked at both of them. Then he remembered what had happened the night before, gave Tenten a butterfly kiss and went to his car.

The car started and left. Tenten got out of the shadow and watched the back of the car as it left. She wanted to run and scream for him, but her feet were stuck on the ground. He had chosen Ino.

"Tenten dear, are you all-right?" From the way Neji's mother was looking at her she understood that she was crying all this time. She nodded and ran in Hinata's house where Sakura was, too.

Hinata answered the door and when she saw her wet face, she understood immediately what had happened. The three girls ended up in the garden where nobody could hear them. Tenten cried for half an hour and then calmed down.

"And I thought I needed comfort because Sasuke's wife returned." Sakura was always the crybaby and Tenten used to be the tough one, so seeing her crying was odd.

"Wh-when he l-left last time I w-was crying for a m-month and it t-took me three y-years to start l-looking to other m-men. I thought th-that I wouldn't have to g-go through the same a-again." She whipped her eyes and nose with her sleeve and sighed. "Let's change subject. Who returned?"

"Karin THE WIFE! She opened the door with only underwear this morning."

"Neji had promised that we would marry and buy the mansion in the forest."

"And she called Itachi her brother."

"He used to call my mother mum!"

"Do you think that after all that happened between us he will return to her?"

"He told me that he was in love with me, he gave me hope and then he returned to Ino!"

"She looked like a total slut! Who opens the door in underwear?"

"Ino always dresses like a Barbie doll. Everything is pink and…"

"Tenten! You said you wanted to change the subject and you only talk about Neji and Ino. You don't even listen to me!"

"I'm getting married." Both Sakura and Tenten hushed and turned their heads to Hinata, who was glowing with bliss. Then the three girls all together bursted out laughing like crazy. Ino and Karin didn't matter in front of Hinata's happiness.

"When did he ask you?"

"Well, we were in the tree house with Gaara- that's the boy's name- when he woke up and… he kinda caught us doing it in front of him…"

"What?"

"He actually is Shikamaru's brother in law and he has evidence to send Orochimaru and his gang in prison. Now he is heading to the government. Anyway, I told him about Shikaku and he couldn't take it, so he told us to adopt him. But they don't give single people babies, so Naruto asked me to marry him."

By the end of that little speech all the excitement had gone away.

"So that was the reason? I hoped that it was something a little bit more romantic." Sakura's disappointment disappeared as soon as she understood what Hinata had said. "You want to adopt Shikamaru's boy?"

"Hinata, are you sure? This is a huge responsibility!"

"I am sure Tenten. We want to take him and live with him here in Konoha!"

"Here? What about your job?" Tenten needed to know that Hinata had thought it through.

"We will get a job here. Naruto wants to make something on his own and I will help him."

"I can't believe you are getting married."

* * *

_The rainbow comes out _

_Only after_

_A big strong rainfall…_

* * *

Later this evening Sakura was returning home. The three girls had spent the day in Suna shopping for the wedding. "The sooner the better" Hinata had said and they wanted everything to be perfect. Sasuke had guessed that they would be shopping, when Naruto came to his house and he announced from the street – screaming out of his lungs- that he was getting married.

He expected Sakura to be late, but it was midnight when she finally returned home. The moment she saw him waiting for her she wanted to run and kiss him, but she decided to play cold and uncaring. Sasuke tried to kiss her and she turned her head away. That confused him.

"What happened, Sakura?"

"I don't have time for you. I'm going to be bridesmaid."

"They haven't even picked a date yet."

"So there is a lot of work to do."

Sasuke had started to freak out. "Is all this about Karin?"

"Oh, I forgot it already. Did you have a good time after you left me last night with your wife?"

"Are you an idiot?"

"Since I believed that you actually felt something for me, I guess I am."

"Karin slept in the guest room and I sent her away this morning. And probably I am the idiot who fell in love with a paranoid woman."

He turned his back to her and proceeded to leave, but she ran after him and hugged him from behind. The stayed like that in the middle on the street between their two houses.

"I knew that you wouldn't return to her. I just wanted to make you tell me that you love me at last."

* * *

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

_Mr and mrs Yamanaka invite you _

_to their only daughter's wedding_

_to Honorable man Hyuuga Neji_

_at the Presidential Hall_

_in Saturday._

_Formal clothes required._

"Formal clothes required? You've got to be kidding me!" Tenten had Sasuke's invitation in her hands and had red it like twenty times already. She sat in front of Sasuke, who was trying to comfort her a little. Next to them Sakura was holding Sasuke's daughter in her arms and played with her. Hinata laid in Naruto's lap and little Shikaku was asleep with his head on her lap.

"Who they think they are? Presidential Hall, blah blah blah… He wanted to get married in the beach without any formalities! And he didn't invite me!"

Sakura laughed so hard that she woke the baby up again. "You wanted to go?"

"Of course I wouldn't! But it was rude! He invited you all!" Sasuke hugged her from behind and she sighed. "So much happened the last two months that I had almost forgotten about Neji."

The truth was that nobody of them got any rest the past couple of months. First of all, Orochimaru and his gang got arrested and removed from Suna. Gaara returned and was elected the new major of Suna. Sasuke and Naruto were now working with him, since he owed them such big favor.

Sasuke and Sakura moved together and she started to get along really well with the baby. The whole village was anticipating for the wedding, but no matter how many times Sakura asked him, Sasuke always refused her and told that he would never marry again.

Naruto and Hinata got married quickly in the Town Hall and the whole village was invited. Right after that and with a little help from Neji they managed to adopt Shikaku and take him home with them. The boy was so similar to Shikamaru that everyone in the village loved him and accepted him as part of the family.

At that moment, only a week before Neji's wedding, Tenten was desperate. She hadn't stopped for one moment hoping that he would come back to her at last, but he didn't even appear in Hinata's wedding.

"Tenten, it's time for you to move on. You lost your chance with Neji, but you are still young and beautiful. You will find someone else."

"Sasuke, I would like to see you if Sakura was married to someone else. But don't worry about me. I will find a way to feel better."

Naruto opened one eye and looked at Sasuke. "When are we going to leave?"

"We can leave on Friday, sleep two nights in Tokyo and return on Sunday. But you would have to take your own car."

"I want to come, too." Everyone's heads turned to Tenten as she spoke these words. Even the baby looked at her. "I mean in Tokyo, not the wedding."

Everybody sighed relieved. "What do you want to do in Tokyo?"

"I have some unfinished business."

* * *

_Life is a big party._

_You need company; it sucks when you're alone._

_If you give up, you miss all the fun._

* * *

"This tie will choke me if I need to bend." The big day has arrived and Neji didn't have the perfect mood for his wedding. He was blabbering about everything and cursing all the time.

"But it's loose! Tell him Sasuke." Naruto and Sasuke were his best men and they had spent the whole morning in his house.

"I will tell him to shut his mouth or I swear I will hit him. It's not our fault that he decided to get married to Ino" Sasuke had gone through Tenten's blabbering all week and he wished to find Neji in a better mood. Needless to say that he was worst.

"It's the fact that the clothes don't fit me."

"It's the fact that the bride doesn't fit you."

Neji fell on a chair and put his face in his hands. Naruto sat beside him and patted his back, but he remained in that position for a while. "I don't know what to do."

"You are getting married, Neji. If you didn't want to, you had to say it earlier. Now the guests are here and the bride is in her way. You can't do anything."

"This isn't how I had dreamt this day."

_**Flashback**_

"_Tenten, Will you marry me?"_

"_Oh my God! You can do anything for sex, Neji!"_

"_No, I'm not kidding."_

"_But we are sixteen! Are you out of your mind?"_

"_I know it's early, but I also know that I'm not going to feel the same for any other woman in my whole life."_

"_If you are trying for a third round, forget it. We are going to be late!"_

"_I will make a lot of money and renovate this mansion. Then we will get married in the chapel with all our friends…"_

"_I never said I would marry you."_

"…_and live here together with our ten children!"_

"_How__ many?"_

"_At least ten!"_

"_Ok, let's have another round."_

"Ok, we don't need any more details!" Sasuke stopped his mind travel and returned him back to reality. "Neji, take my advice and leave Tenten alone. She has suffered enough already!"

"You are not my friend!"

"I am, but I am hers, too."

"Guys," Naruto interrupted them "This is not a time to talk about Tenten. Neji, Ino will be here in a minute! If you didn't want to marry her, you should have told it earlier."

The three men got out and took some pictures. Neji had a face as if his tooth ached. In Sasuke's opinion this marriage looked a little like circus. There were more that five hundred people in the church and all of them were dressed ridiculously well for the occasion.

Hinata and Sakura were in the front seats along with Neji's family. His mother happened to have the same expression as her son, the toothache. Hinata's sister couldn't control her laughter for the huge silver hat the lady next to her wore. They were the only normally dressed people in the crowd.

The music started and the bridesmaids walked down the aisle followed by a stunningly beautiful Ino, whose dress looked like a gigantic cake. As she began to walk the door closed behind her. Her face was a mixture of pride and triumph as she showed off her gown to the guests and completely ignored the groom. Neji felt like vomiting.

In a brief moment the door reopened with force and hit her back making Ino fall on the red carpet with her face. The music stopped and everyone hushed as the saw another girl behind her. Tenten had waited long enough.

Neji gulped unable to react, but as Ino turned her head and saw her, her face lost all the beauty and became a mask of hatred.

"Security, help!" Tenten jumped and sat at her back like people sit in the back of the horse. Then she pressed her face on the ground and the gigantic dress muffled her screams. With Ino unable to move and talk, it was now Neji's choice.

"Hyuuga Neji, I claim you as mine and forbid you of marrying this Barbie doll." She sounded secure but she was scared to death that he would tell her to leave and continue his wedding. "The first takes the price and I was in your heart far before her. I lied to you; you were always the one and I'm not willing to let go. Even if you marry her, I won't."

Neji looked at her stunned. She wore jeans and a T-shirt with a ridiculous stamp, but she was more beautiful that the ruffled cake she was sitting on. She had made 500 people look breathless at her, when not even Ino's parents noticed that she was straggling above her.

Sasuke gave him a little push in the back and Naruto smiled approvingly. Neji grabbed the microphone and announced his decision. "Dear guests, thank you for coming here today, but there will be no wedding. You see, I promised this crazy woman that I would marry her long ago and I am a man of my words."

Tenten let Ino go, but whatever she screamed was lost in the loud applause of the people. Neji ran to her and hugged her in front of everyone, including Ino, in the middle of the church. Tenten squealed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Now let's do get rid of this hideous tux!"

* * *

**END**

**I think that this is the end you all wanted! I want to thank everyone that red and reviewed this story! It was long and tiring, but I already have a new idea! See you…**

**zoikoiroi**


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